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The Case of the Christie Conspiracy by Kelly Oliver #Review #TheDetectionClubBook1

    Today we have the first in a new historical cozy crime series, The Detection Club. The Case of the Christie Conspiracy by Kelly Oliver   is published today by Boldwood Books .   Agatha Christie is about to embark on a new, gripping murder case. But this time, she’s not the author – she’s a suspect… 1926 – Christie is a darling of the literary circuit and the most desired guest in London’s glittering social scene. She can often be found at meetings of the Detection Club – where mystery writers come together to share ideas, swap secrets and drink copiously. But then a fellow author's initiation ceremony takes a gruesome turn, and one of the group ends up dead. Now, Agatha is no longer just the creator of great mystery plots – she’s a player in one. And when Agatha disappears the day after the murder, she’s widely assumed to be guilty. Only Eliza Baker, assistant to the Club’s enigmatic secretary, Dorothy Sayers, is interested in investigating the case. But i...

One August Night by Victoria Hislop #Review #PaperbackPublication

 


Beloved author Victoria Hislop returns to Crete in this long-anticipated sequel to her multi-million-copy Number One bestseller, The Island. 

25th August 1957. The island of Spinalonga closes its leper colony. And a moment of violence has devastating consequences.

When time stops dead for Maria Petrakis and her sister, Anna, two families splinter apart and, for the people of Plaka, the closure of Spinalonga is forever coloured with tragedy.

In the aftermath, the question of how to resume life looms large. Stigma and scandal need to be confronted and somehow, for those impacted, a future built from the ruins of the past.

Victoria Hislop returns to the world and characters she created in The Island - the award-winning novel that remains one of the biggest selling reading group novels of the century. It is finally time to be reunited with Anna, Maria, Manolis and Andreas in the weeks leading up to the evacuation of the island... and beyond...



 

Victoria  Hislop  said, ‘Travelling  back  in  my  imagination  to  revisit  Spinalonga,  a  place  where people  lived in isolation with an incurable disease, seemed a very natural thing to do during lockdown – not least because the cure for the disease was found!  But what has really kept my mind focussed during these past months has been to re-imagine some of the characters in that period after the closure of the leper colony.  These are the characters who are profoundly affected by the events that unfold as The Island draws to its  conclusion  and,  for  all  of  them,  it  brings  the  need  for  renewal,  catharsis  and  the  beginning  of  very  different lives.

 

My Thoughts

 Set on the island of Crete, the environment shimmers away and you feel that the traditions and customs of the islanders form an integral part of the story. I haven't read The Island, I must admit, but nevertheless was able to pick up on the relationships and become invested in the story. There are some strong characters in the story and events from the past are slowly uncovered.

    Maria turned out to be the most fascinating character for me. Her actions were unexpected and selfless and she gave the story a feeling of renewal and hope after her experiences on the leper colony of Spinalonga. With a narrative which moves on at a good pace and the action which moved from character to character, I was carried along. Full of atmosphere, I found this to be an absorbing read, just right for a holiday read. I also appreciated that not all ends were tightly fastened off and there could, if necessary, be more to come.

In short: Secrets from the past appear

    

About the Author


Inspired by a visit to Spinalonga, the abandoned Greek leprosy colony, Victoria Hislop wrote The Island in 2005. It became an international bestseller, has sold more than six million copies and was turned into a 26-part Greek TV series. She was named Newcomer of the Year at the British Book Awards and is now an ambassador for Lepra. Her affection for the Mediterranean then took her to Spain, and in the number one bestseller The Return she wrote about the painful secrets of its civil war. In The Thread, Victoria returned to Greece to tell the turbulent tale of Thessaloniki and its people across the twentieth century. Shortlisted for a British Book Award, it confirmed her reputation as an inspirational storyteller.

 Her  fourth  novel,  The  Sunrise,  about  the Turkish  invasion  of  Cyprus  and  the  enduring  ghost  town  of  Famagusta, was a Sunday Times number one bestseller.  Cartes Postales from Greece, fiction illustrated with  photographs,  followed  and  was  one  of  the  biggest  selling  books  of  2016.  The  poignant  and  powerful Those Who Are Loved  was a Sunday Times number one hardback bestseller in 2019 and explores a tempestuous period of modern Greek history through the eyes of a complex and compelling heroine. Victoria’s  most  recent  novel,  One August  Night,  returns  to  Crete  in  the  long-anticipated  sequel  to  The Island. The novel spent twelve weeks in the Top 10 hardback fiction charts.

Her books have been translated into more than thirty-five languages. 

Victoria  divides  her  time  between  England  and  Greece  and  in  2020, Victoria  was granted honorary citizenship by the President of Greece.  She was recently appointed  patron  of  Knossos  2025,  which  is  raising  funds  for  a  new  research  centre at one of Greece’s most significant archaeological sites.  She is also on the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.

You can follow Victoria here: Twitter  |  Website 

Book link: Amazon UK

Thanks to Victoria Hislop, Headline Review and Anne Cater of  Random Things Tours  for a copy of the book and a place on the tour. 

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