Island

‘A moving and absorbing holiday read that pulls at the heartstrings’ Evening StandardThe acclaimed million-copy number one bestseller and winner of Richard & Judy’s Summer Read 2006. Victoria Hislop tells a dramatic tale of four generations, illicit love, violence and leprosy, from the thirties, through the war, to the present day.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…Praise for The Island. . .’A vivid, moving and absorbing tale’ Observer’Victoria Hislop . . . brings dignity and tenderness to her novel about lives blighted by leprosy’ Telegraph’Wonderful descriptions, strong characters and an intimate portrait of island existence’ Woman & Home’War, tragedy and passion unfurl against a Mediterranean backdrop in this engrossing debut novel’ You magazine’Hislop’s deep research, imagination and patent love of Crete creates a convincing portrait of times on the island’Evening Standard’A page-turning tale that reminds us that love and life continue in even the most extraordinary of circumstances’Sunday Express ‘A beautiful tale of enduring love and unthinking prejudice’Express]]>