Hislop expertly delves into the complex history of a fascinating country in this beautifully written family saga' budget, την ιδανική συντροφιά και μια λίστα με πράγματα που θες να κάνεις και μέρη που θες να επισκεφτείς. Και πράγματι, το πραγματοποιείς το ταξίδι. Και πράγματι, αποδεικνύεται υπέροχο. Και πράγματι, σε σημαδεύει και το θυμάσαι για χρόνια μετά... I enjoyed the book but was slightly disappointed that I didn't feel the connection and empathy of the characters that I had previously read of in The Island. However it was great to finally feel like you weren't left in limbo from the story of the Island. Focusing particularly on the lives of Maria and Manolis in the years that follow, the author takes the reader beyond Plaka, and indeed beyond the island of Crete, as both Maria and Manolis struggle with the legacy of that eventful August night. Feeling she must find a way to repay the good fortune that saw her cured of leprosy and married to Nikos, Maria’s solution involves a breathtaking act of forgiveness. But despite being fully cured, the stigma of her leprosy remains although, as she observes, stigma can be a weapon in the right circumstances. Manolis’s solution is to try to banish the past and the memories that haunt him by seeking a new life away from Crete.

The beauty of The Island is the way it immerses the reader into the life and world of the Spinalonga colony, its effects on the with leprosy and the communities it impacted. It also drew you into the Cretan culture. However this novel barely touches on the leprosy/Spinalonga - I was hoping to read more about how the advent of the cure and the closure of the colony impacted Plaka (as promised), the cured and the community. Other than a few mentions - it hardly comes up at all, and certainly isn’t a feature of the story. For me, it failed to captivate my imagination and whisk me away to Crete, circa 1950. For me, it felt like the story didn’t go anywhere... the story was told through a great deal of narration, with swathes of time being written off, as ‘a year later...’. The dialogue was mostly gentle and sanguine - no family dramas, despite the fact the families had been ‘splintered’.This novel focuses on the story of Anna, Manolis, Andreas and Maria - maybe because I wasn’t invested in any of the characters enough (even Maria, who was so central to The Island), it felt like I was reading a novel based on a soap, or something a lot less substantial. The characters were mostly one dimensionally, and not fully developed enough for the reader to care about the outcome for any of the characters. Again there is a lot of historical knowledge shown in the novel about the facts of leprosy and the cure for it. As well as the feeling of somebody who knows about the culture of the area. Hislop expertly delves into the complex history of a fascinating country in this beautifully written family saga’

Anna is not looking forward to being a mother nor is she looking forward to her sister, Maria, being released from the island. It is Maria's return to Crete that triggers a violent act that will change the lives of the two families forever. Victoria Hislop έγραψε τη συνέχειά του κατά τη διάρκεια της πανδημίας του 2020, όπου βίωσε, όπως κι όλος ο κόσμος, μια σειρά από ομοιότητες ανάμεσα στους ανθρώπους που ζούσαν στο άσυλο της Σπιναλόγκας και στη σημερινή εποχή: «Δεν ήμασταν μεν ασθενείς… όμως νιώσαμε στο πετσί μας την απομόνωση και τις ελλείψεις σε είδη διατροφής… και βιώσαμε τον φόβο απέναντι σε μια ασθένεια για την οποία δεν υπάρχει θεραπεία» (σελ. 10). Η συγγραφέας λοιπόν, συνειδητοποιώντας πως προσπέρασε αρκετούς από τους χαρακτήρες στο κλείσιμο του πρώτου βιβλίου, διερευνά τώρα σε μεγαλύτερο βάθος τα συναισθήματα και την κατάληξη κάποιων από αυτούς.In the aftermath, the question of how to resume life looms large. Stigma and scandal need to be confronted and somehow, for those impacted, a future built from the ruins of the past’ From the synopsis I expected there to be drama, suspense (from the confrontation of the stigma and scandal) and lively dialogue. One August Night focuses on events just prior to and after the return of those exiled on the island, a return made possible by the discovery of a cure for leprosy. You might think it a cause for celebration and indeed for some it is, bringing the prospect of being reunited with relatives and friends, and a return to something like a normal life, albeit that many bear the physical and mental scars of their illness. However, the return of others means bringing to the surface a tangled web of relationships, both past and present. August 1957. The island of Spinalonga closes its leper colony. And a moment of violence has devastating consequences. Maybe I’m being harsh in my review, because my expectations were too high and I’m feeling disappointed that this book didn’t deliver (hence the two stars rather one). However, anyone who has read Hislop’s previous novels will have the same expectations of a deep, history rich, evocative story - and this book is nowhere near that league.

Manolis suddenly caught the opening notes of a zeibékiko song and felt something inside him stir. The lyrics of this particular song seemed to mirror his life, jabbing at his heart. As if possessed by the power of the music, he rose from his seat… The movements were personal but the tradition of the zeibékiko was known to everyone. It was a dance that should only be performed by a man, and only by a man with grief to express. As the musicians played and the insistent beat thumped and repeated and thumped again, Manolis revolved slowly in a trance-like state, his eyes glazed, unfocused. Someone threw a plate at his feet and one of the girls tossed a flower that she had been wearing in her hair. He was aware of neither.” Setting: Crete & Greek mainland; Melbourne, Australia. The book is set in the lead-up to the closing of the leper colony of Spinalonga in 1957, when a cure has been found. Anna Petrakis has a good life with Andreas, who controls the family's large olive groves, but her marriage is unfulfilled - so she seeks solace with her husband's cousin, Manolis, with whom she is passionately in love. When news filters down that the Spinalonga lepers have been cured and will be returning home, including Anna's sister Maria, Anna is devastated - as Maria was Manolis's fiancee before she was diagnosed with leprosy. Manolis too fears that Maria will seek to rekindle their engagement, especially when he discovers that she shows no outward signs of having had the disease. But at the party to celebrate the closure of the leper colony, a devastating act of violence takes place that affects all of the characters deeply and for years to come.... When time stops dead for Maria Petrakis and her sister, Anna, two families splinter apart and, for the people of Plaka, the closure of Spinalonga is forever coloured with tragedy. Since I first read The Island, a book passed to me by my mother, I have been a Victoria Hislop fan. Her books are always interesting and informative of events that have taken place. The affair has consequences and the book goes on to show the life that is lead due to the consequences.

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In the aftermath, the question of how to resume life looms large. Stigma and scandal need to be confronted and somehow, for those impacted, a future built from the ruins of the past.