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.
Check out these great bloggers!
Thanks so much for the blog tour support x
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