Hislop, Victoria "The Figurine"

Hislop, Victoria "The Figurine" - 2023

I have been a fan of Victoria Hislop since I read her first book "The Island". I have only been to Greece once, and not even to the mainland but to Crete. But through this author, I have come to love the country and this one is one of her best.

The heroine of the book, Helena, has a Scottish father and a Greek mother. And her family does the best thing one can do to a bi-cultural child, they send her to her grandparents for the holidays so that she becomes a fully bilingual child.

The story is so exciting, not just from the language or the Greek point of view, there is so much going on and we can follow Greek history recent and ancient in this one novel. Fantastic.

I don't know which one is my favourite, "The Island" or this one but it certainly is one of the two. Such a beautiful story.

From the back cover:

"'Her love for Greece shines through and transports readers to a brilliantly drawn world' Independent

'Family turmoil, unanswered questions, romance and betrayal, all served up against the backdrop of Greece and its enchanting history' Daily Express

An unputdownable read with a family's dark history giving a unique glimpse into Greece's troubled past. Athens sparkles in Victoria Hislop's imagination. Concealed beneath the dust sheets in the Athens apartment she has inherited from her grandparents, Helena McCloud discovers a hidden hoard of rare antiquities, amassed during a dark period in Greek history when the city and its people were gripped by a brutal military dictatorship. Helena's fascination for archaeology, ignited by a summer spent on a dig on an Aegean island, tells her that she must return these precious artefacts to their rightful place. Only then will she be able to allay the darkness of the past and find the true meaning of home - for cultural treasures and for herself."

Alphabet Authors ~ H is for Hislop

I found this idea on Simon's blog @ Stuck in a Book. He picks an author for each letter of the alphabet, sharing which of their books he's read, which I ones he owns, how he came across them etc.

 

There are a few great authors with the initial H: Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, or Khaled Hosseini, for example.

But one of my absolute favourite authors is Victoria Hislop, so I definitely had to choose her for this letter.

Most of this British author's books are about Greece and she seems to have depicted that country so well that they granted her honorary Greek citizenship. If that isn't a praise, I don't know what is.

Her very first book, which was also the very first book I read by her, is "The Island". She later wrote a sequel "One August Night" and a children's book about the story, "Maria's Island". But any of her other books are also great.

- "Cartes Postales from Greece" - 2016
- "The Figurine" - 2023
- "The Island" - 2005
- "Maria's Island" - 2021
- "The Last Dance and Other Stories" - 2015 
- "One August Night" - 2020
- "The Return" - 2008
- "The Sunrise" - 2014 
- "Those Who Are Loved" - 2019
- "The Thread" - 2011

She has also written some non-fiction books with Duncan Goodhew, a former competitve swimmer:
"Sink or Swim: The Self-help Book for Men Who Never Read Them" - 2002 (Goodreads)
"Fix Your Life – Now!: The Six Step Plan to Help You Fix Your Life" - 2012 (Goodreads)

Facts about Victoria Hislop:
Born    1959 Bromley, Kent
As she is still alive, I hope she will write more books

* * *

This is part of an ongoing series where I will write about a different author for each letter of the alphabet. You can see them all here.

Hislop, Victoria "Maria's Island"

Hislop, Victoria "Maria's Island" - 2021

If you've read "The Island" and its follow-up, "One August Night", you might want to consider this. Or, if you have children who like to read.

This is Maria's story, the girl growing up in the village near the Spinalonga, the Greek island where they would send people with leprosy before they found a cure.

Not only had Victoria Hislop retold the story in such a lovely way that it will be perfectly understood by children, she also found a wonderful illustrator, Gill Smith, who brings the people and the island to life. I have been to Spinalonga a long time before the books were written, and reading her books takes me back to this beautiful little place. It is just as described by this brilliant author.

From the back cover:

"A dramatic and moving story set in the same world as the international bestseller The Island from the celebrated novelist Victoria Hislop.

The absorbing story of the Cretan village of Plaka and the tiny, deserted island of Spinalonga – Greece's former leper colony - is told to us by Maria Petrakis, one of the children in the original version of The Island. She tells us of the ancient and misunderstood disease of leprosy, exploring the themes of stigma, shame and the treatment of those who are different, which are as relevant for children as adults.

Gill Smith's rich, full-colour illustrations will transport the reader to the timeless and beautiful Greek landscape and Mediterranean seascape."

#ThrowbackThursday. The Island

Hislop, Victoria "The Island" - 2005

An interesting book about a wonderful part of this world with a harrowing past. A story of the island of Spinalonga and its inhabitants suffering from leprosy. Also the story of a strong family.

Read more on my original post here. 

There is also a follow-up to this story:
Hislop, Victoria "One August Night" - 2020

Find the other Victoria Hislop books I read here. I have read them all because the author has become one of my favourite writers.

Hislop, Victoria "One August Night"

Hislop, Victoria "One August Night" - 2020

I absolutely love Victoria Hislop. My first book by her was "The Island" and I have read all her subsequent novels (see here). All of them were fantastic, great stories with a lot of information mainly about Greece but also some other Southern European countries (Cyprus, Spain, Turkey).

Fourteen years after her first novel, the sequel to it was published. It is the end of the leper colony in Greece since they found a cure. That is great news for some since their loved ones return, not so good news for others who fear their lives will change. And they do.

A drama that occurs on the return changes the life of everyone whom we got to know in the first book. It would have been nice to learn more about other inhabitants of Spinalonga but we learn more about Maria who spent a long time of her life there.

As in all her novels, Victoria Hislop tells us a lot about her beloved country Greece. She has been made an honorary citizen in the meantime, a well-deserved recognition. I always love her describing the Greek whom I got to know as a warm and loving people. And her stories always have a feeling of truth, you can believe the people really existed, they led this life. She always brings me back to Crete which I really love.

I am already looking forward to her next book which she will hopefully write soon.

From the back cover:

"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.

Number one bestselling author 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."

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2022.

Hislop, Victoria "Those Who Are Loved"

Hislop, Victoria "Those Who Are Loved" - 2019

I have read a few books by Victoria Hislop and also quite a few about Greece. Next to those by the same author, "Modern Greece" by C.M. Woodhouse is probably the best if you want information about (especially the modern) the history of this interesting country. Victoria Hislop also recommends this book in her list of "Suggested Reading".

Victoria Hislop's stories about life in Greece are so informative and gripping, no wonder the Greek granted her honorary Greek citizenship for promoting modern Greek history and culture. Definitely deserved.

While we have learned i.a. about the history of Greece during the Ottoman Empire, this is a story about Greece during and after WWII. A lot of people always assume that with the end of that awful war, on VE Day, there was peace everywhere in the world except for the Pacific region. But it carried on in Europe in many areas. Like here in Greece where they felt the wounds of what was started during the occupation even more when it came to starting fresh. The country was just as divided as Germany, albeit in a different way.

In this book, we meet a normal family who has different opinions on politics. Sounds familiar? Yes, it happens all the time. There are people who are willing to fight for the freedom of their country, others who don't see a problem where there is a huge one. If this kind of different people are in one family, it can cause a lot of heartbreak and chaos.

As usual, Victoria Hislop manages to describe the different individuals, their feelings and their beliefs true to detail and possible to empathise with.

While searching for the places where this book takes place (mainly Athens and the prison islands Makronisos and Trikeri), I found an interesting website/blog about different books and their locations. Have a look here. I thought it might show some pictures but I quite liked that at least we can see where exactly the places are.

I can't wait for Victoria Hislop's next book.

From the back cover:

"Athens 1941. Nazi forces occupy Greece … and a nation falls apart.

Fifteen-year-old Themis comes from a family polarised in its political views. The Nazi occupation only deepens the faultlines between those she loves while it reduces Greece to destitution.

In the civil war that follows the end of the occupation, Themis joins the Communist army to fight for her beliefs. Ultimately imprisoned on the infamous islands of exile, Makronisos and then Trikeri, Themis encounters another prisoner whose life will entwine with her own in ways neither can foresee. And finds she must weigh her principles against her desire to escape and live.

As she looks back on her life, Themis realises how tightly the personal and political are entangled. While some wounds heal, others deepen.

Already a Number one bestseller, this gripping new novel sheds light on the complexity and trauma of Greece’s past and weaves it into the epic tale of an ordinary woman compelled to live an extraordinary life."

Hislop, Victoria "Cartes Postales from Greece" - 2016

Hislop, Victoria "Cartes Postales from Greece" - 2016

Victoria Hislop has become one of my favourite authors. I loved all of her books so far.  And this one was just another brilliant one by this writer whom I've come to love after reading her other books beginning with the "The Island" until "The Sunrise" and this one is no different. First I was a little apprehensive since it was described as a "collection of short stories" and I don't really like short stories that much. But I had already liked her other collection, "The Last Dance and Other Stories", so I was determined to read this.

And I was not disappointed. Like in all her other books, the author manages to describe her characters so well and makes you want to get on a plane and go visit the place right away.

So does, Ellie, the "reader" of this story who receives postcards from a stranger. Well, they seem to be to a previous person living in her flat but since she doesn't know where S. is now, she has no idea where to send them. She starts loving the places described and goes on a trip to Greece. Quite a lovely story through which we get to know a lot of Greek folk stories and tales of contemporary Greek people.

Great read. If you like Greece or want to know more about it, the authors novels are all brilliant but this one gives you quite an overview since it travels through the country.

From the back cover:

"Week after week, the postcards arrive, addressed to a name Ellie does not know, with no return address, each signed with an initial: A.

With their bright skies, blue seas and alluring images of Greece, these cartes postales brighten her life. After six months, to her disappointment, they cease. But the montage she has created on the wall of her flat has cast a spell. She must see this country for herself.

On the morning Ellie leaves for Athens, a notebook arrives. Its pages tell the story of a man's odyssey through Greece. Moving, surprising and sometimes dark, A's tale unfolds with the discovery not only of a culture but also of a desire to live life to the full once more.

Beloved, bestselling author Victoria Hislop's Cartes Postales from Greece is fiction illustrated with photographs that make this journey around Greece, already alive in the imagination, linger forever in the mind."

Hislop, Victoria "The Sunrise"

Hislop, Victoria "The Sunrise" - 2014

A gripping story. A story about the common people, rich or poor, winner or loser, the ordinary people who always suffer most in a war. A story that goes deep and shows how stupid any war is, anything that some people who think they are more important than others want to change with weapons and destruction. What do we gain of it? Nothing. Ask anyone who lived in a country during wartime.

Famagusta, a town in Eastern Cyprus, is not different. People live their ordinary lives. They go to work, they go home. They love their families, they love their lives. Then the invasion. First just a big hotel somewhere, well, they will stop, this will be it. Nope, they carry on. Some people leave. Others stay, thinking/hoping it won't be that bad. It gets worse, some more leave. Until it is too late for some to leave. Must be terrible knowing you are trapped somewhere and could have left if you would have just not clung to your possessions too much. Or thinking you can evade a destiny if only you close your eyes and your ears.

The worst part of the story, the war in Cyprus took place in 1974, more than forty years ago. The city of Famagusta still has parts that cannot be visited by anybody, even people who used to live there. That is what war does. It doesn't just kill people, it destroys everything, first and foremost humanity.

Another brilliant book by Victoria Hislop whom I've come to love after reading her other books:
"The Island" - 2005
"The Return" - 2008
"The Thread" - 2011
"The Last Dance and Other Stories" - 2012

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

 

"In the golden city of Famagusta, Greek and Turkish Cypriots alike enjoy a life of good fortune.
Invasion comes without warning, bringing chaos and terror.

 
As forty thousand people flee their homes in panic, Famagusta becomes a ghost town. But not everyone will find it so easy to leave."

Find the other Victoria Hislop books I read here.

Hislop, Victoria "The Last Dance and Other Stories"

Hislop, Victoria "The Last Dance and Other Stories" - 2012

I have read all of Victoria Hislop's three novels and thoroughly enjoyed all of them. Therefore, I bought this one in the hope that it would be just as great.

However, this is not a novel like her other books, it's a collection of short stories and I'm not a big fan of short stories. And, she mentions this herself in the afterword, her Greek readers have criticized her before for seeing their country through rose-tinted lenses, and she is trying to adjust that in her stories.

So, quite a change to her previous books one would say.

Nonetheless, I loved this book. Even though her previous stories also tell about historic problems, these here talk about the life in Greece today, about the life of modern Greeks in an ever changing world.

I loved these stories, whether they were about an abandoned kafenion, fighting brothers, a love lost or political protests. And I am looking forward to this author's next story.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"In ten powerful stories, Victoria Hislop takes us through the streets of Athens and into the tree-lined squares of Greek villages. As she evokes their distinct atmosphere, she brings vividly to life a host of unforgettable characters, from a lonesome priest to battling brothers, and from an unwanted stranger to a groom troubled by music and memory.

These bittersweet tales of love and loyalty, of separation and reconciliation, captured in Victoria Hislop's unique voice, will stay with you long after you reach the end."

Find the other Victoria Hislop books I read here. 

Hislop, Victoria "The Thread"

Hislop, Victoria "The Thread" - 2011

This is my third book by Victoria Hislop and it is not going to be the last. I have loved every single line of this.

While a young man visits his grandparents in Greece, they tell him the story of their life and at the same time the story of their town and country. Thessaloniki has gone through a lot of turmoil and so have its inhabitants.

We get to know successful men and unhappy women, determined men who want to save their country as well as people who have given up all hope. We go through the German occupation and follow the resistance fighters into the mountains. We meet a young seamstress who is determined to work hard to get through life. Her love to the man she shouldn't fall in love with has to overcome many obstacles but since we meet them as the grandparents of the young man at the beginning, we already know that they will finally have a happy end.

This is a story about love and a story about survival. How do people, especially women, get through tumultuous times. Even in wartime, some people seem to try to hold up a class system whereas for others it just seems to became unimportant. We learn how families react differently in difficult situations as well as how relationships are formed - or not - and how different marriages function - or not.

There is so much history in this book, so many details that make history interesting even to people who are not interested in history at all. Victoria Hislop has earned her place on my list of favourite authors. She usually starts with a prologue taking place today and then goes back into the history when finally coming back to modern times in her epilogue. I especially loved the title of this book, a light allusion to the job of a seamstress as well as to all the different people in the story whose lives are linked together.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"Thessaloniki, 1917. As Dimitri Komninos is born, a devastating fire sweeps through the thriving Greek city where Christians, Jews and Muslims live side by side. Five years later, Katerina Sarafoglou's home in Asia Minor is destroyed by the Turkish army. Losing her mother in the chaos, she flees across the sea to an unknown destination in Greece. Soon her life will become entwined with Dimitri's, and with the story of the city itself, as war, fear and persecution begin to divide its people.

Thessaloniki, 2007. A young Anglo-Greek hears his grandparents' life story for the first time and realises he has a decision to make. For many decades, they have looked after the memories and treasures of the people who were forced to leave. Should he become their next custodian and make this city his home?"

Find the other Victoria Hislop books I read here.

Hislop, Victoria "The Return"

Hislop, Victoria "The Return" - 2008

I loved "The Island" so much that I had to read Victoria Hislop's next book. After this one, I completely fell in love with this writer. She has a way of drawing you into her stories, it's amazing. And she didn't disappoint with this one. "The Return" leads us to another place and another time in history but one that is just as exciting. A young woman discovers not only the terrible history of the Spanish Civil War but also her own. Along with her, the reader is forced to learn more about this awful part of history through this gripping account.

The characters are just as vivid and alive as the whole story, you feel yourself compelled back into that time when brothers fought each other over an ideology. The author also manages to describe Granada so well that you believe you are there with the protagonist of the story. I certainly would love to visit it after having read this book. I am still thinking about it days after having finished it and I am sure I will still think about it for a long, long time. And I definitely want to read Victoria Hislop's next books.

An excellent novel.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"Beneath the majestic towers of the Alhambra, Granada's cobbled streets resonate with music and secrets. Sonia Cameron knows nothing of the city's shocking past; she is here to dance. But in a quiet café, a chance conversation and an intriguing collection of old photographs draw her into the extraordinary tale of Spain's devastating civil war.

Seventy years earlier, the café is home to the close-knit Ramírez family. In 1936, an army coup led by Franco shatters the country's fragile peace, and in the heart of Granada the family witnesses the worst atrocities of conflict. Divided by politics and tragedy, everyone must take a side, fighting a personal battle as Spain rips itself apart."

Find the other Victoria Hislop books I read here. 

Hislop, Victoria "The Island"

Hislop, Victoria "The Island" - 2005

An interesting book about a wonderful part of this world with a harrowing past. When I visited Crete, we also took a boat to the unoccupied island of Spinalonga. We were able to walk across it while listening to the story of this beautiful little piece of land. The most exciting part: it was used as a leper colony from 1903 to 1957. People who were banned there wouldn't return into normal life until a cure was found.

This book reflects on the lives of the people on this island, how they got there, how their everyday life was, how life was for those left behind, how the people in the little village just opposite the island were. The author managed to illustrate all this through a family who was involved in the whole history. There are some strong characters in this devastating family saga.

Book Description:

"The Petrakis family lives in the small Greek seaside village of Plaka. Just off the coast is the tiny island of Spinalonga, where the nation's leper colony once was located - a place that has haunted four generations of Petrakis women. There's Eleni, ripped from her husband and two young daughters and sent to Spinalonga in 1939, and her daughters Maria, finding joy in the everyday as she dutifully cares for her father, and Anna, a wild child hungry for passion and a life anywhere but Plaka. And finally there's Alexis, Eleni's great-granddaughter, visiting modern-day Greece to unlock her family's past.

A richly enchanting novel of lives and loves unfolding against the backdrop of the Mediterranean during World War II, The Island is an enthralling story of dreams and desires, of secrets desperately hidden, and of leprosy's touch on an unforgettable family."

I also read "The Return", "The Thread" and "The Last Dance and Other Stories" in the meantime and they were just as great.

Victoria Hislop has written a sequel in the meantime, "One August Night", if you enjoyed this one, I highly recommend you read that, as well.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2022.

Find the other Victoria Hislop books I read here.