Nevertheless, I strongly recommend "The Thread" and Victoria Hoslop 's writing as I always admire her research, her deep look even on secondary historical events and her details in people's culture/way of life. There was simply too much stuff happening and too many characters to make anything in particularly meaningful in my view. I wanted Hislop to stop, take a breath and really explore what was going on in a scene or era - it seemed rushed and not nearly enough attention was given to the narrative, which seemed confused in places.

I don’t like silence. To me both music and dance are more important than words,” she confesses, adding that she also plays the violin, usually in duets. “It really is unlike anything else one does.” Those who had fought against Franco experienced years of repression and even when the fascist dictator died in 1975, many people in Spain still remained silent about their experiences. The friend with whom Hislop stayed in Granada while researching her novel refused point blank to discuss the past with her. It troubles her that she has been unable to find out why the shutters came down when she mentioned that she would be writing a novel about the civil war. From the stunning streets of Athens to the picturesque villages of Greece, Victoria brings to life a huge array of characters, from a lonely clergyman to fighting brothers, an unwelcomed stranger to a groom haunted by music and a recollection of old events.The writing changes point of view with unsettling fluidity; the reader’s certainty of characters’ innermost thoughts creating an intriguing contrast with the modern-day protagonist’s uncertainties about her mother and her lover. Side-stories, the flirtatious sister, the lost little boy, even soldiers in the war, all fold together creating a fine sense of people and place, a picture of quiet society still hiding in the warmth of Cretan sunshine and the dust of forgotten lanes. Secrets hurt, the past can’t be changed, but forgiveness and the choice to move forwards imbue the tale with a hopeful tone. Meanwhile the mystery of leprosy becomes something real that I’m glad to know more about.

Both The Island and The Return tell of the uncovering of old family secrets. The first is a multi-generational narrative set in a former leprosy colony on Spinalonga, a Greek island off Crete, which Hislop and her family discovered when they were holidaying there. Her husband hates sitting on a beach, preferring to explore new places. The Return takes place in Granada and revisits the bloody conflict of the Spanish Civil War, which tore the country, and many loving families, apart. I have been suffering from breast cancer and am unable to enjoy many of my usual hobbies, so I have been reading even more than usual. With that in mind, my friend Jill gave me The Thread by Victoria Hislop. She had really enjoyed it and so passed it on. I had never read any books by Hislop, but I had heard of her. She is an English author who was born in London, England in 1959 but was raised in Tonbridge, Kent, and attended Tonbridge Grammar School before she read English at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford University, Oxford, England. It was while at University in Oxford that she met her husband, the comedian and journalist Ian Hislop. He read English Literature at Magdalen College, Oxford. They married in Oxford on 16 April 1988 and now live in Sissinghurst with their two children. If you enjoy novels that also give you a potted history and immerse you in local culture you’ll probably enjoy this one. I did find it odd that the prologue reveals who the main character will end up with. I really enjoyed The Thread, and am giving it five stars -- not because it is a literary treasure, but rather because it does such a good job at historical fiction. I learned so much about the history of Thessalonika and modern Greece in general, and enjoyed myself while reading. In 2009, she donated the short story Aflame in Athens to Oxfam's " Ox-Tales" project, four collections of British stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the "Fire" collection. [6] Hislop has a particular affection for Greece. She visits the country often for research and other reasons, and has a second home on the island of Crete. [7] Personal life [ edit ]Each word held its magic. They were like brushstrokes painting the landscape of the city, each one helping to build up a picture of the whole.” Viktorijin novi izdavač u Srbiji je Čarobna knjiga... pratite njihov sajt da vidite kada će knjiga tačno izaći iz štampe...

Leprosy. You think of is as a biblical or medieval disease but I had not realised that even a control/cure wasn't found until the mid 20th century. This involving story is set on the island Spinalonga off the coast of Crete, between the two world wars, where there was a leper colony until leprosy was eradicated by medical intervention.

Richard E. Grant's Spanish reading list

I'm not sure what the opinion of this book might be from the perspective of a Greek reader and/ or someone who knows Greece/ Thessaloniki well, and I'm not sure if Hislop has actually written a realistic story here that accurately describes the nuances of the city and its people. The army coup of 1936, under the command of Franco, however destroyed the tranquility of the nation, unleashing a period of grief and devastation. For someone coming from Thessaloniki and having an interest in its history, i think that this a perfect book!! Victoria Hislop did a great research and she said things as they were, from the point of views of her characters.

Victoria Hislop is a British International bestselling and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of literary fiction and historical fiction novels. There were a number of other minor irritations in the use and spelling of Greek words as well as some dubious chronological placements. Were they really listening to Theodorakis in 1953? And September 1953 seemed to last for about 6 weeks. Hislop's writing is very mediocre. When she wants to compare something or show a contrasting situation she inevitably uses a simple metaphor to get the point across. The dialogue was simple and corny. The primary subject matter of the book was well researched and very interesting and original - that of the fate of Leprosy sufferers in pre-war and wartime Greece. I found this aspect of the book very interesting, the experimental treatments, the descriptions of how they organised their lives on the island and set up a democracy, the emotions surrounding being forcibly taken away from your families and made to live in isolation. I didn't know a lot about leprosy before reading this book, to me it is a biblical illness which is slightly distasteful and I didn't realise that patients sometimes lived in these isolated communities for years before the disfigurement and death happened. I also liked reading about the undercurrents of class prejudice in the face of this. I quite liked the character of Maria, even though she was quite a passive character and I usually prefer more sparky female protagonists, she was characterised quite well.The sun rose, the moon saturated the night sky with its silver light and the stars blazed, indifferent to the events happening below them.” His moving tale follows the family’s misfortunes during the Spanish Civil War, telling how the battle of memory against forgetting is still being fought on all fronts. Richard also finds out about the acequias, the unique and ancient Moorish watering systems still used on a community basis by the local farmers and growers. They channel and distribute melt and spring water from the Sierra Nevada mountains, lending the Alpujarras its verdant character and underpinning the rich ecosystem in the valleys. When Helena inherits her grandparents' apartment in Athens, she is overwhelmed by memories of childhood summers when Greece was under a brutal military dictatorship. Her grandfather was one of the regime's generals and in the dusty rooms, Helena discovers an array of priceless antiquities. How did her grandfather amass them - and what human price was paid for them?