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Out now in Paperback: “Those Who Are Loved”

The Sunday Times #1 Bestseller Those Who Are Loved is now in paperback.

Set against the backdrop of the German occupation of Greece, the subsequent civil war and a military dictatorship, all of which left deep scars.

Themis is part of a family bitterly divided by politics and, as a young woman, her fury with those who have collaborated with the Nazis, drives her to fight for the communists.  She is eventually imprisoned on the notorious islands of exile, Makronisos and Trikeri, and has to make a life or death decision. She is proud of having fought, but for the rest of her life is haunted by some of her actions. Forty years after the end of the civil war, she finally achieves catharsis.

‘A beautifully woven love story and a spellbinding, heart-breaking depiction of a country torn apart by hatred’, 
Daily Express

‘Hislop has done her research and handles the great sweep of complex Greek history with skill and confidence. She makes a touching family story out of violent and divisive times and her fans will lap this up’, 
Daily Mail

Buy The Paperback

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My Love Affair with Greece

As she’s made an honorary citizen, bestselling novelist Victoria Hislop raises a glass of ouzo to the country that stole her heart 40 years ago

She had scarcely travelled anywhere at all. Yet, recently separated from my father and keen for adventure, my mother, Mary, decided to whisk my sister and me to Athens.

It was the late 1970s. I was 17 years old — and promptly fell in love at first sight.

Not with a dark-eyed local boy, but with Greece itself. That first experience of clear, bright Aegean light and delicious warmth from the Mediterranean sun has remained with me ever since.

My mother approached that first visit with her usual energy. We ticked off with appreciation every archaeological site in the guidebook, going round on buses, frequently getting lost, trying to decipher street signs in an unfamiliar alphabet and almost melting in the August heat. It was hot, confusing and noisy, but I adored everything about it.

After we’d unpicked what we could of Athens, we took a ferry to the island of Paros, which was all whitewashed villages and blue-domed churches. Having spent most previous summer holidays on the pebbly beach at Bognor Regis, the soft white sand was a revelation.

My mother lit the spark which ignited my lifelong Greek passion and inspired my bestselling novel, The Island, set on Spinalonga, a tiny island off the coast of Crete, which was the last leprosy colony in Europe.

I thought of Mum last week when my phone rang at 10am on a quiet Thursday morning. I answered the unknown number that flashed up on my screen and heard the unexpected words: ‘I have the Prime Minister for you.’

The person on the line was speaking Greek so I knew it wasn’t going to be Boris Johnson. Then I heard what, for me, has become a familiar voice: that of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek PM (I know his authoritative tones from the Greek equivalent of the Today programme which I tune into each morning).

Mr Mitsotakis was calling to offer me Honorary Citizenship of Greece for promoting modern Greek history and culture through my writings.

To say I was thrilled is an understatement. But it was a pity that I couldn’t share it with my mother. The call came in July, almost precisely four months after she died in a care home, aged 92.

Mum was there at the very beginning of my connection with Greece and years later accompanied me on my research trips to Crete. It was a huge pleasure when I had finished writing The Island to dedicate it to her, and I love to think there are at least five million copies of the book around the world dedicated ‘To my mother, Mary’ …

(read the full article at the Daily Mail)

 

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Victoria is given Honorary Greek Citizenship

The  author of bestsellers including “The Island” and “Those Who Are Loved,” may officially consider herself Greek.

Greece’s President Katerini Sakellaropoulou has signed an honorary naturalization order allowing the 61-year-old novelist to claim Greek citizenship.

Hislop, who has a holiday house in Crete where she spends several months a year, was granted Greek citizenship for promoting modern Greek history and culture, including the history of the tiny island of Spinalonga, off the coast of Crete, the last leprosy colony in Europe. Spinalonga served as the setting for her 2005 historical novel “The Island.”

The decree was published in the Greek government gazette.

Under Greek law, honorary naturalization may be granted to people “who have provided exceptional services to the country or whose naturalization serves the public interest.”

 

 

Now in Paperback: “Those Who Are Loved”

The Sunday Times #1 Bestseller Those Who Are Loved is out in paperback on August 20.

Set against the backdrop of the German occupation of Greece, the subsequent civil war and a military dictatorship, all of which left deep scars.

Themis is part of a family bitterly divided by politics and, as a young woman, her fury with those who have collaborated with the Nazis, drives her to fight for the communists.  She is eventually imprisoned on the notorious islands of exile, Makronisos and Trikeri, and has to make a life or death decision. She is proud of having fought, but for the rest of her life is haunted by some of her actions. Forty years after the end of the civil war, she finally achieves catharsis.

‘A beautifully woven love story and a spellbinding, heart-breaking depiction of a country torn apart by hatred’, 
Daily Express

‘Hislop has done her research and handles the great sweep of complex Greek history with skill and confidence. She makes a touching family story out of violent and divisive times and her fans will lap this up’, 
Daily Mail

Buy The Paperback

Victoria Hislop’s Cretan love affair

Photo: Bill Waters

(from cretamaris.gr)

Victoria Hislop is the world’s most popular novelist writing about Greece today, and this summer sees the publication of her latest book Those Who Are Loved. Already topping best-seller lists in the UK, it’s looking like it will be her most successful book to date. Of course it was The Islandthat started it all nearly 15 years ago; the historical novel that told the story of Spinalonga sold 1.5 million copies in the UK, 600,000 copies in France, and became a huge international bestseller. In total, Victoria’s novels have been translated into more than 30 languages worldwide, and have sold more than six million copies.

No wonder Hollywood approached Victoria to turn The Island into a feature film. Instead, keen to keep the story authentically retold, she decided to work with the Greek broadcaster Mega, who re-created it as a 26-part drama series To Nisi. The rest as they say is history; it became the most successful television series ever broadcast in Greece.

These days Victoria divides her time between London and Crete, and every summer she’s to be found at her second home – the gorgeous house she had built a decade ago in Aghios Nikolaos.  Victoria’s love affair with Greece goes way back; she first arrived as a teenager on holiday with her mum and sister in the 1970s, but it was yearly visits, later with husband Ian and her children, most often to the Agios Nikolaos area, that sewed the seeds of her passion for Greece, and Crete in particular.

Following on from the success of The Island, The Sunrise, The Thread and Cartes Postales from Greece, Victoria Hislop’s latest novel is set against the backdrop of Greece in World War II and the traumatic civil war that followed.  Like The Island, the book is an epic tale that reflects Greece’s turbulent past – a subject that English-speaking audiences are obviously keen to find out about. Those Who Are Loved jumped to number one in the UK bestseller lists on its launch in June, and judging from the feedback, Victoria’s readers are adamant that it’s her best so far.

Speaking to the Creta Maris blog, Victoria says her latest novel exploring a heartbreaking period of Greek history is very different from The Island.  “Islands always have something unique. Both Spinalonga and Makronisos (which was used as a prison camp) were islands of exile but in different ways, unique environments with very different uses.

“I’m sure people will see similarities between the two stories – perhaps one of the most obvious being that often people are faced with immense challenges through no fault of their own, and it’s how you deal with such difficulties that shows us who we are, and how overcoming them make us stronger.”

Fluent in Greek (she’s had private lessons for years) there’s nothing Victoria values more than the time she spends in Crete. It’s much more than a holiday home for this British philhellene, who takes great pride in the Agios Nikolaos community she’s now a part of. Victoria has just arrived in Crete after a hugely successful tour of the UK promoting her new book, and she will stay enjoying the Cretan summer until September.

By the way, if you want to travel in Victoria’s footsteps when taking a trip to Spinalonga, head for the atmospheric Carob Tree Taverna in Plaka. It’s a long-time favourite of hers.

 

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