The Island

The Island by Victoria HislopVictoria Hislop’s first novel The Island is an international bestseller. It was selected for the Richard and Judy Summer Read, and won Victoria the “Newcomer of the Year” Award at the Galaxy British Book Awards 2007.

Keen to preserve the integrity of the book and to give something back to the Mediterranean island on which it is based, Hislop spurning Hollywood, the author settled for “far less” from Mega, the Greek broadcaster, which adapted The Island as the  26-part drama To Nisi  which was broadcast in 2010-2011, becoming the most successful television series ever broadcast in Greece. The series has since been sold for syndication to Turkey and Croatia.

The Island has been translated into more than twenty languages, and has been a bestseller in many countries around the world.

 

“Hislop’s deep research, imagination and patent love of Crete creates a convincing portrait of times on the island.”
Evening Standard

Synopsis

On the brink of a life-changing decision, Alexis Fielding longs to find out about her mother’s past. But Sofia has never spoken of it. All she admits to is growing up in a small Cretan village before moving to London. When Alexis decides to visit Crete, however, Sofia gives her daughter a letter to take to an old friend, and promises that through her she will learn more.

Arriving in Plaka, Alexis is astonished to see that it lies a stone’s throw from the tiny, deserted island of Spinalonga – Greece’s former leper colony. Then she finds Fotini, and at last hears the story that Sofia has buried all her life: the tale of her great-grandmother Eleni and her daughters and a family rent by tragedy, war and passion.

She discovers how intimately she is connected with the island, and how secrecy holds them all in its powerful grip…

 

Reviews

“the new Captain Corelli.”
The Sunday Express

“Hislop’s deep research, imagination and patent love of Crete creates a convincing portrait of times on the island.”
Evening Standard
 
“Passionately engaged with its subject”
Sunday Times
“Meticulous research into Cretan culture…packed with family sagas, doomed love affairs, devastating secrets. A vivid, moving and absorbing tale…. beyond holiday literature.”
Observer

A rich narrative, awash with authentic detail”
Daily Mail

“Gripping… carries real emotional impact.”
Daily Telegraph

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Forthcoming Events

These are a few of my favourite (Greek) things…

• There is a beautiful new restaurant on the sea front in Thessaloniki - wonderful food and décor, with vintage toys and adverts - really worth a visit - "Ayioli" at 15 Niki Street, Thessaloniki.

• Costas Voyatzis in Athens introduced me to his hugely successful website featuring extraordinary and beautiful design - do have a look!…
www.yatzer.com

• A recent discovery in Athens Chromata, Skoufa 62, Kolonaki - a great restaurant/bar with fantastic music...

• One of the funniest women I have met in years…
Katerina Vrana

• LIQUID GOLD - The most amazing Cretan olive oil is now being imported into the UK - it has a truly exceptional flavour as well as remarkable healthy giving properties. You can buy it from www.liquidgoldproducts.co.uk

• Beautiful olive oil direct from Crete:
www.myolivebranch.co.uk

• My favourite Greek restaurant in London, As Greek As It Gets, in Earls Court:
www.asgreekasitgets.co.uk

• "ILaBoom" makes beautiful miniature light boxes to order. I was given one as a gift(see it here) and it's one of the most delightful things I own. www.psyboom.etsy.com

• Bespoke shoes in central Athens. Kozatsa have been creating them since 1936. They're at 11 Kanari Street, Kolonaki, Athens 106 71 or online at www.kozatsa.gr

• The focus of Greek culture and language teaching in Central London, The Hellenic Centre:
www.helleniccentre.org

• Learn Greek! I recommend Hara Garoufalia-Middle's excellent Total Greek

• Hellenic Bookservice: If you want to get hold of any Greek books, contact monica@hellenicbookservice.com
www.hellenicbookservice.com
Tel: 0207 267 9499

Recent Reviews

Praise for "The Last Dance"
Intricate, beautifully observed and with a painter's eye for imagery, in these stories Hislop evokes Greece, its people, its customs and traditions with a sensitivity that reveals her deep knowledge of not just the place but also the human condition.
Sunday Express

Praise for "The Thread"
I never knew how painful and difficult the history of modem Greece had been until I read "The Thread" (Headline Review) by Victoria Hislop, my favourite of her three novels so far. With a large cast of memorable characters, it tells the story of Thessaloniki from the great fire of 1917 to the present day and manages to be at once a romance, a thriller (the Second World War sequences are brilliant) and a sombre reflection on how Greece got to where it is today.
Anthony Horowitz, Telegraph Books of the Year

Hislop's fast-paced narrative and utterly convincing sense of place make her novel a rare treat.
Guardian

"…a sweeping, magnificently detailed and ambitious saga that wrestles with the turbulence of the period … those who loved The Island, her hugely successful first novel, will fall on it"
The Sunday Times

"Hislop has done well to tell a story as diverse and tempestuous as Thessaloniki’s with such lightness of touch.[…] The novel’s overarching power derives from the fluidity with which these rapidly changing times are treated."
The Spectator

"The Thread' is a more ambitious novel than her previous books, more expansive in its sweep of history, more controversial in its political stance. Her many, many fans will be delighted with what is her best novel yet."
The Scotsman

"Hislop … is very good at interweaving the lives of individuals into the backcloth of great events… this is a writer of laudably high ambition and it would only take a small nudge to move her to a whole new level. Recommended"
Daily Mail

Buy “The Thread”

Buy "The Thread" from Amazon.co.uk