The Island - Victoria Hislop > Reviews (14)

Review of 'The Island' by Victoria Hislop.

I am reviewing the paperback format of the novel. It contains 496 pages, ISBN 978-0755309511, was first published 10/04/2006 and the genre classification is Modern Fiction. RRP £7.99
The Island is the first novel from Victoria Hislop.

The Plot

Alexis Fielding is a modern twenty five year old woman. She has a degree in archeology and a consuming interest in the past, a trait she shares with her father, Marcus. Alexis mother, Sophia is Cretan by birth but moved to England as a young woman. Sophia has always been reticent about her early years and has told Alexis and her brother Nick very little about their maternal heritage.

Alexis plans a holiday to Greece, the main purpose of the holiday is to decide whether she wants to move in with with her boyfriend, Ed. Ed is a go getter and a head boy type of man, Alexis is unsure whether she really does want to live with him. She decides that she will visit Crete during the trip in order to see the village where her mother, Sophia grew up. Alexis tries to press her mother for information about her family, eventually, Sophia gives Alexis a letter for an old friend called Fotini who still lives in the Cretan village, Plaka. Sophia rather mysteriously tells Alexis that Fotini will explain certain things to her.

Alexis arrives in Plaka on a hot and sultry afternoon. She finds that the village is fairly remote, a small village situated on the coast and directly opposite an island. Alexis finds the cafe bar that is run by Fotini and her family, where she is given a very warm welcome by her Mother's old friend. She inquires about the island located just across the bay and is astounded to find that used to be used as a Leper colony and was in fact Greece's main leper colony from 1903 to 1957.

People suffering from leprosy would be removed from their homes and families and forced to live on the island until they died. The island was called Spinalonga and it was a completely self ruled and almost self sufficient community. Doctors would visit to tend the sick in the purpose built hospital, the island had shops, a school, church and the residents lead a full life once they accepted that Spinalonga was now their last ever home.

Alexis finds a boatman to take her to the now deserted island and spends a day among the now derelict buildings, taking in the atmosphere and peace of the place. On her return, Fotini begins to tell Alexis of her family's history. As the story unfolds, Alexis is stunned to discover that she is intimately connected with the tiny island of Spinalonga. Her own family was rent apart by the horror of the leprosy disease when her great grandmother, a local teacher named Eleni was struck with the disease. Eleni was torn from her husband and two daughters and banished to Spinalonga.

Alexis' great grandfather was a boatman who had been employed to ferry lepers, doctors and other visitors to the island and when his wife was sent to live on the leper colony, he was luckier than most as he was able to snatch a few precious minutes with his wife.

Lepers who tried to get off the island ran the risk of being shot.

The plot moves with an easy flow and covers in great detail, leprosy, the various treatments that were tried, and the effects that the illness and then World War 2, had on Alexis' family. She comes to realise that her mother has harboured shame and resentment for the stigma that leprosy carried in her youth.

I will not reveal anymore of the storyline or the eventual outcome for fear of spoiling the book for others, but I will stress that this haunting novel has enough twists and turns and technical detail to keep you enthralled.

The Author

Victoria Hislop was born on 8th June 1959 in Bromley, Kent. She studied at St Hilda's College, Oxford and after university, Victoria's first job was in book publishing. From there she moved into advertising and public relations. When she had children, she became as a freelance journalist, she wrote on education and parenting for the Daily Telegraph, general features for women's magazines and travel writing for The Sunday Telegraph and The Mail on Sunday.

Victoria Hislop's first novel 'The Island' has been an international bestseller. It was selected for the Richard and Judy Summer Read competition 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.
Victoria Hislop currently lives in a 500 year old house in the beautiful village of Sissinghurst, Kent. She is married to Private Eye and television satirist Ian Hislop, they have two children.
More about Victoria Hislop can be found on her website, which was also my source for the personal information about the author.
www.victoriahislop.com/index.html

Availability, publisher and cost

Published by
Hodder Headline
338 Euston Road
London
NW1 3BH
www.hodderheadline.com

Jacket price of The Island is the RRP of £7.99, however the book can be obtained from www.amazon.co.uk for £5.11 new or 1p used.

Conclusion

I was given this book in 2007 by my aunt, who like myself is a veritable bookworm. We both read an eclectic selection of books and often pass our books on to each other. When she gave me The Island, she warned me that it was addictive reading. How right she was!
For a first novel, Ms Hislop has achieved nothing short of a masterpiece. The novel covers family secrets and drama, passion, war, the conditions and treatment of the residents of Spinalonga Leper colony. The plot is unusual and fast moving and the characters are superbly drawn. The storyline has all the elements that a good novel should contain, a real page turner but in a gentle fashion, no violence or disturbing behaviour, but a thought provoking, emotionally charged plot. The author must have conducted an immense amount of research into leprosy in order to write such a hauntingly lifelike account of life in a leper colony.
As I said, I was given this novel in 2007, I read and enjoyed it and have never really forgotten the novel. A month or two ago, I was waiting for my other half at the opticians.

The receptionist was chatting away telling me about her recent holiday. It turned out that she had been to Crete and had visited Spinalonga. This incident reminded me that I wanted to re-read 'The Island' which I did. I have to say that I enjoyed the book just as much the second time around.
I would heartily recommend this novel to others, it is a remarkable book and the actual story line is haunting and memorable, in my opinion because it is fiction based on factual events.

Thank you for reading.
©brittle1906 May 2009

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