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The Island Victoria Hislop Books

Download As PDF : The Island Victoria Hislop Books

The Island Victoria Hislop Books

This is the story of a young woman who yearns to know more about her mother's early life. For reasons unknown, the mother has been very secretive about her earlier life, but her daughter's trip to the town on Crete where she grew up causes the mother to send a letter to someone who knew her earlier life. When the daughter finds this friend from the past, the letter gives the friend permission to tell the mother's story. The setting then shifts to the past, as the mother's friend tells a detailed story about how a nearby island (thus the book's title) served as a leper colony from 1903-1957. As the story of the leper colony unfolds, the story of the young woman searching for her roots seems to evaporate, especially because the leper colony story (based on historical information) fills the majority of the pages in the book. But the 4-part structure of the book keeps the orginal story (presented in Part 1) in the back of the reader's mind and prepared for the return to that thread in Part 4, where all of her questions about her mother are answered. Touching and effective connections between the past life of the mother and current life of her daughter bring the story to a fulfilling and satisfying conclusion for both of them, as well as for the reader.


Tags : The Island [Victoria Hislop] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Spine in great condition. Bound tight. No marks or scratches. No folds, tears or markings. The cover is in great condition and looks new. Enjoy Prime shipping from Amazon with this purchase!,Victoria Hislop,The Island,Headline Books,0755309510,Fiction,General,Modern fiction

The Island Victoria Hislop Books Reviews

I read this book just before traveling to Crete for a vacation and wanted to get some background. For my purposes it was a good idea because it created a picture of the Cretan people in my mind that was born out in reality. The story of Spinalonga is very interesting in itself and the historical context for this part of its history is of paramount importance to the people of Crete. Their history has been replete with war and occupation and resistance all of which have contributed to their feeling of independence and pride of place. Many small villages have monuments to the resistance fighters during WWII and the atrocities visited on their families as a result. The island of Spinalonga is now a very popular tourist destination because of this book but also because of archeological interest in its buildings. There was even a very popular Greek TV series based on the book, called "To Nisi".

All that aside, the story is a bit melodramatic and the characters are not developed beyond romantic stereotypes. It was hard for me to imagine a woman, even in the 50's, turning down a chance for happiness after having suffered for years in isolation, in order to care for her able-bodied father. However, while on Crete I learned that family is everything there, even today, and I can see how in her day she might have made that choice. I wish the writing had been a little less formulaic and the characters a bit more human and accessible. Nevertheless, the story moves right along and it provides some very interesting insight to Cretan culture and a reminder of a disease that was so terrifying and misunderstood, but is now seldom heard of.
I got this book based on the good reviews. I tried to start reading it multiple times and I would always put it away. It didnt grab me. I think part of the problem is the excessive descriptions and not enough of.a good story to keep me going. I gave up on it because life is too short to read books you don't enjoy.
This is a fascinating and powerful book, mostly set on the former leper colony, the island of Sinalonga and the nearby town of Plaka in Crete. It tells the dramatic story of one Cretan family, two of whom became lepers, in a way that kept me on the edge of my seat. She wraps the Cretan story in a sort of framework plot about an English girl who comes to trace her Cretan roots. I can't say this doesn't work, but I would have been satisfied with the Cretan saga, which is riveting enough by itself. The characters are strongly painted, the plot heart-stopping, the background, scenery and atmosphere almost overwhelming. I really think it deserves an extra half star.
The book narrates the story of the Petroulakis family in Crete over essentially three generations. It's a story that revolves around Spinalonga ("the island"), an island colony for patients with leprosy. The story starts with the diagnosis of Eleni Petroulakis and shows the parallel lives of her on the island and her family back in Plaka, and it continues with the story of the daughters, on and off the island, through WWII and afterwards, until a cure is discovered.
I loved Hislop's writing, and I think she does a great job conveying the life, challenges and struggle of the island and its inhabitants, doing an excellent job portraying Eleni, Giorgis and Maria. My only "complain" would be Anna's storyline - for someone ultimately as shockingly central to the story, her portrayal is rather weak, leaving the end feeling a bit rushed. But it's certainly a book worth reading, both for the writing and for the real human drama that it carries.
I found out about this book thanks to one of the book websites subscriptions I get and the cover is what first piqued my interest. After reading the introduction, I ended up buying the book. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and plan to get some of her other works. I was able to follow along with no problems and even though I was shocked at one particular turn of events, this book was great! Excellent read )
I really liked this book. Wasn't sure I was going to stick with it in the beginning, but then got going and didn't want to put it down. One of those great works of fiction that teaches you a thing or two about history--in this case the plight of lepers in Crete and the surrounding areas as recently as the 1900s. Interesting that soon after finishing this book, I unexpectedly came upon something else that mentioned how fierce the Cretan resistance was during WWII. This was not the focus of the book, just one small part of it, but it's interesting that you live your whole life not knowing anything about Crete during WWII, and then suddenly you learn something about it from two different sources. And it's even better that the information from both sources was consistent.
This is the story of a young woman who yearns to know more about her mother's early life. For reasons unknown, the mother has been very secretive about her earlier life, but her daughter's trip to the town on Crete where she grew up causes the mother to send a letter to someone who knew her earlier life. When the daughter finds this friend from the past, the letter gives the friend permission to tell the mother's story. The setting then shifts to the past, as the mother's friend tells a detailed story about how a nearby island (thus the book's title) served as a leper colony from 1903-1957. As the story of the leper colony unfolds, the story of the young woman searching for her roots seems to evaporate, especially because the leper colony story (based on historical information) fills the majority of the pages in the book. But the 4-part structure of the book keeps the orginal story (presented in Part 1) in the back of the reader's mind and prepared for the return to that thread in Part 4, where all of her questions about her mother are answered. Touching and effective connections between the past life of the mother and current life of her daughter bring the story to a fulfilling and satisfying conclusion for both of them, as well as for the reader.