Louiseog said:
(Phew first review ever!)

They gave it a good review on Richard & Judy yesterday....might get it for a read.

I enjoyed this book, because the subject matter was interesting and something I'd never read about. I had no idea leprosy was still around in the 20th century, as I'd always assumed it was a medieval disease, so I was fascinated by this novel. It's an easy read, nothing too challenging, and would make an ideal holiday read.

At last I can say I have finished it, not that I wasn't enjoying it other bookrings etc came along and interupted the flow.
This was a well written tale of fact/fiction based on an Island in Crete called Spinalonga. Alexis wants to find out more about her mother Sofia's past as all she knows is that she grew up in a small Cretan village. She decides to go to Crete and Sofia gives her a letter to take to an old friend who still lives there. This she does and Fotini takes the time to tell her everything she knows. Alexis is astonished to find that Plaka, the village is only a short distance from the deserted island Spinalonga, the former leper colony. Fotina unravels the truth about her family and she discovers things that her mother has never told her, due to feeling ashamed about the past and memories and facts that she only discovered herself when she was 18.
It was a very moving and emotional read at times, mixed with love, and family secrets, illness, grief and filled with strong characters. I had know idea that this place ever existed. Very well researched and insight into such a devastating time for those who suffered from leprosy.
4/5

I agree! A very emotional book full of family drama and family tragedies and the ups and downs of love. I read it a couple of years ago and promptly forced it onto everyone else. I personally found the first part of the book while still interesting a little slow but it steadily gained momentum as it rolled into the second part and reached the conclusion at full speed, I just couldn't put it down!
My heart broke for the father and the mother (its been a while and I regretfully can't remember names sorry! when she was sent away. And I practically screamed with fury at the elder sister!
brilliant book, I've been told that 'The Return' is also excellent but haven't read it yet.
Alicia

Hope you don't mind Inver, but I was sure I'd posted in a thread about this book before, and I just found it here ... http://www.bookclubf...ictoria-hislop. It's a very short thread, but funnily enough you have posted in it (5 years ago) saying you might get it!

Alicia Simone, on 22 March 2011 - 08:19 PM, said:
I personally found the first part of the book while still interesting a little slow but it steadily gained momentum as it rolled into the second part and reached the conclusion at full speed, I just couldn't put it down!

Unfortunately I couldn’t get on with this book. Every time I started to think “its getting interesting now” it stopped getting interesting. I found it hard to relate to the characters (possibly due to there being so many of them or dare I say because they had foreign names). I really switched off in the middle when the war came but war in books has that effect on me anyway. It really wasn’t what I was expecting I had assumed that the majority of it would be set on the leper island and to be more focused on how they dealt with their illnesses and the emotions that came with it.
For me the book would have been largely improved if the present ay story had been taken out of it. I can see that if it was a film then having “flashbacks” would have work a lot better but for a novel I felt it took some of the feeling out of the story. I would have preferred it to be told from the point of view of the teacher and her husband (their names have long escaped me).
However everyone I know who has read it loved it so perhaps I was just reading it with the wrong frame of mind.

I'd been meaning to get The Return but had completely forgotten about it. Thanks for the reminder Shirley, it's been added to my wishlist.

I've heard good things about The Return too....must add to the 'to buy' bookshelf