The Island

This is my latest read:

Victoria Hislop read English at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and writes travel features for The Sunday Telegraph, The Mail on Sunday, House & Garden and Woman & Home.

Her first novel THE ISLAND was published by Headline Review and held the number 1 slot in the paperback charts for eight consecutive weeks, selling over a million copies in the UK.

The book has also been published in over twenty languages and has also been a number 1 bestseller in Greece.

Victoria was the Newcomer of the Year at the Galaxy British Book Awards 2007 and won the Richard & Judy Summer Read competition.


She lives in Kent, with her husband(Ian of 'Have I got news for you' etc) and their two children.

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Victoria Hislop's first novel "The Island" is an international bestseller. It was selceted for the Richard and Judy Summer Read, and won Victoria the "Newcomer of the Year" Award at the Galaxy British Book Awards 2007. It has been translated into more than a dozen languages.


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"

A vivid, moving and absorbing tale.... beyond holiday literature."Observer. "

A rich narrative, awash with authentic detail"
Daily Mail.

"Gripping and carries real emotional impact." Daily Telegraph