One August Night is an intriguing exploration of the complexities of family relationships and their impact on our lives. Firstly, I want to thank Anne Williams who, knowing how much of a Hellenophile I am, kindly sent me a review copy of One August Night. August 1957. The island of Spinalonga closes its leper colony. And a moment of violence has devastating consequences.

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.... Anne on #Review: The Last Train from Paris by Juliet Greenwood @julietgreenwood @Stormbooks_co @rararesources #blogtour #newrelease #histfic #WW2 #TheLastTrainfromParis Maria Petrakis, a young woman from the small Cretan village of Plaka is one of the former leper patients returning home. It is very poignant that she has been cured from the devastating disease, especially as her mother Eleni died of leprosy on Spinalonga. Everyone is happy about Maria’s return – everyone apart from her own sister Anna. The affair has consequences and the book goes on to show the life that is lead due to the consequences.

Praise for “One August Night”

Review: Murder at the Matterhorn by T A Williams @tawilliamsbooks @BoldwoodBooks @rararesources #blogtour #publicationday #BoldwoodBloggers #cosycrime #ArmstrongandOscar #MurderattheMatterhorn 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. 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. 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. 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 novel, rich in history also confronts the ugly truth of having to use ‘ stigma as a weapon‘ as it explores sexual abuse and the treatment of prisoners. At times it is unsettling to read, but this enhances the subtle, dramatic tension as well as the important messages I felt Victoria Hislop (pictured above) wanted to convey. This makes this novel a very powerful read. 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. 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.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.