The story of conflict and its consequences of course has great relevance today, with the current troubles in Gaza, Iraq and Ukraine. When Helena inherits her grandparents’ apartment in Athens, she is overwhelmed with memories of the summers she spent there as a child, when Greece was under a brutal military dictatorship. Her remote, cruel grandfather was one of the regime’s generals and as she sifts through the dusty rooms, Helena discovers an array of valuable objects and antiquities. How did her grandfather amass such a trove? What human price was paid for them?

She said: “I feel very comfortable being a foreigner. I don’t find languages that difficult, I speak Greek, French and bits of Spanish and German. Vibrant… Hislop brings history to life in this compelling tale’ ( Tatler)Hislop brings her consummate storytelling skills to this enthralling tale of love, marriage and a community all put to the test ( Woman & Home)

The Figurine

Set in Cyprus in the summer of 1972, it follows the story of an ambitious couple about to open the island’s most spectacular hotel, where Greek and Turkish Cypriots work in harmony. Two neighbouring families, the Georgious and the Ozkansm, are among many who move to Famagusta to escape the years of unrest and ethnic violence elsewhere on the island.

Victoria Hislop describes life in this haven so well, bringing to life the guests, the hotel workers and the hustle and bustle of fabulous Famagusta. The tourists are unaware of the political rumblings in Cyprus. Hidden from them is the violence, the simmering unrest. The locals are aware of the battles within the Government, and the memories of battles between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots are never far from their minds. Captivating and deeply moving, Victoria Hislop’s second novel is as inspiring as her international bestselling debut, The Island. ala Walking Dead και ήταν πραγματικά ανατριχιαστικό (οι 100 σελίδες που έλεγα πριν... μετά περιορίστηκε πάλι στη ρουτίνα και χάθηκε) readers can’t fail to be swept up in her ongoing love affair with all things Greek and, in The Figurine, the focus turns to the country’s ancient statuettes and the looting trade that surrounds them.[…]a gripping storyline that leaves no stone unturned”The Return] should be required reading for anyone going to Spain this year…the historical tale is powerful stuff” Hislop brings her consummate storytelling skills to this enthralling tale of love, marriage and a community all put to the test." - Woman & Home (UK)

I’m a big fan of Victoria Hislop’s previous three novels, ‘The Thread’, ‘The Return’, and ‘The Island’ so was expecting a lot from the new one, ‘The Sunrise’. I was a little disappointed and it’s difficult to pin down why. The Cyprus setting is great, the historical setting is stirring, the characters… I didn’t connect as well with them as I did with Alexis and Eleni in ‘The Island’. Finally, I decided that the difference between ‘The Sunrise’ and the Hislop’s earlier books is that it wears its history a little too heavily. That said, it is a fascinating period and one I knew little about, except a memory of a distant cousin who lived near Kyrenia at the time. He and his family were forced to flee their house, empty-handed, running across open countryside towards a cave, dodging bullets being fired from an airplane. An absorbing tale about family, friendship, loyalty and betrayal, set during a violent period in the history of Cyprus ( Good Housekeeping) The novel itself really conjures up the lost city of Famagusta in it's hey-day. How amazing it must have been to be wealthy and to go and play there. To watch it fall apart through the story was sad and touching and to know that part of that city is still out of bounds is incredible all those years later.Mail on Sunday, October 12 by Victoria Hislop For “You” Maria Hadjivasili: “What happened in 1974 totally altered the course of my family’s life” Fascinating and moving... Hislop writes unforgettably about Cyprus and its people." - The Times (UK) She says the success of her best-selling first book, the 2005 novel The Island, took her by surprise. Not least because of the subject matter. The Greek Cypriots who had fled from Varosha were not allowed to return, and journalists are banned. It has been frozen in time with houses, department stores and hotels empty and looted, even tiles on bathroom walls. “This piece of history is still there, just living like this. “There is still a ghost town there in Cyprus. I found it so extraordinary.

Beginning in the summer of 1972, The Sunrise is the story of the old Famagusta. The glittering, glamorous holiday resort populated by the beautiful rich and serviced by wonderful hotels and willing locals. The wealthiest of these visitors stay at The Sunrise; a new hotel built and owned by Savvas Papacosta and his wife Aphroditi. The Sunrise is their latest venture, glitzier and more expensive than their other hotel, and financed by Aphroditi's wealthy father. An absorbing tale about family, friendship, loyalty and betrayal, set during a violent period in the history of Cyprus." - Good Housekeeping (UK) In 1974 everything comes to a head. The island is divided and the tourists flee. Greek and Turk Cypriots are once again at war, the violence escalates, the streets are dangerous, the hotels lie empty except for the mice and the rats.That traumatic teenage trip left its scars: “I’ve never been camping since,” she admits, laughing merrily. “If someone tells me we’re going to sleep in a tent, forget it!” Fortunately, that dislike doesn’t extend to Cyprus itself – and in fact Cyprus is the subject of her new book The Sunrise, her fourth novel since making her name with The Island in 2005. That debut, a big hit in Britain and even bigger hit in Greece (where it became a hugely successful TV series), was set on the leprosy colony of Spinalonga, off the coast of Crete; since then she’s written The Return, set during the Spanish Civil War, and The Thread, set in Thessaloniki – and nowThe Sunrise, which takes place in Famagusta before and during the invasion. Victoria became an ambassador for LEPRA, the international leprosy charity, which enabled her to travel to India and see the work it carries out.