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The Island
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Product Description
The Island was the Sunday Times number one paperback for eight weeks and won Richard & Judy's Summer Read 2006
On the brink of a life-changing decision, Alexis Fielding longs to find out about her mother’s past. But Sofia has never spoken of it. All she admits to is growing up in a small Cretan village before moving to London. When Alexis decides to visit Crete, however, Sofia gives her daughter a letter to take to an old friend, and promises that through her she will learn more.
Arriving in Plaka, Alexis is astonished to see that it lies a stone’s throw from the tiny, deserted island of Spinalonga – Greece’s former leper colony. Then she finds Fotini, and at last hears the story that Sofia has buried all her life: the tale of her great-grandmother Eleni and her daughters and a family rent by tragedy, war and passion. She discovers how intimately she is connected with the island, and how secrecy holds them all in its powerful grip... (20060416)
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #605 in Books
- Published on: 2006-04-10
- Original language: English
- Binding: Paperback
- 496 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
'Adding depth and colour to the story is the description of Cretan life... in particular, the vividly detailed account of life on Spinalonga... It is one of the achievements of this thoughtful novel that it presents the lives of the island's inhabitants with such empathy. The result is a fascinating work that combines a moving love story witha plea for more understanding about this most cruel of diseases.' -- The Times 20060417 'This is a vivid, moving and absorbing tale, with its sensitive, realistic engagement with all the consequences of, and stigma attached to leprosy, elevating it beyond holiday literature.' -- Observer 20060416 'Gently gripping tale' -- Scotsman on Sunday 20060416 'Brings dignity and tenderness to her novel' -- Telegraph 20060430 'a compelling story that has rarely left the bestseller list this year and deservedly so' -- Sunday Express 20061203
A young Englishwoman discovers her family's secret links to a Cretan leper colony, in an unusually humane saga.A bestseller in the U.K., British author Hislop's debut pays affecting tribute to the victims of leprosy and those who helped them. Alexis's mother Sofia has never discussed her family background, but when Alexis plans a trip to Crete with her decreasingly appealing boyfriend Ed, Sofia gives her an introduction to old family friend, Fortini, in the village of Plaka, across from Spinalonga Island, for years a leper colony, but now deserted. Fortini, with Sofia's permission, begins to narrate the Petrakis family story, starting with Alexis's grandmother Eleni in 1939, a saintly, married schoolteacher who developed leprosy, moved to Spinalonga and died there, leaving behind her husband and two daughters, Anna and Maria. Willful Anna marries rich Andreas but flirts with his sexier cousin Manoli, who falls in love with good-natured Maria. Their wedding plans are shattered when Maria realizes she too is infected with leprosy and must go to the island. Under the treatment of kind Dr. Kyritsis, Maria is given drugs, and eventually she and the other sufferers are healed and the colony is closed. Anna, meanwhile, has had an affair with Manoli and given birth to Sofia. On the night of Maria's return to Plaka, Andreas discovers the affair and shoots Anna. Eventually, Maria marries Kyritsis and they bring up Sofia, not revealing until very late her true parentage. Sofia takes the news badly, moves away and lives a life of shame and guilt for the pain she caused. Now she and Alexis are reunited in Plaka and Ed is given his marching orders. Mediocre fiction is redeemed by considerable empathy in this serious but patchy summer read. (Kirkus Reviews)
Review
'Adding depth and colour to the story is the description of Cretan life... in particular, the vividly detailed account of life on Spinalonga... It is one of the achievements of this thoughtful novel that it presents the lives of the island's inhabitants with such empathy. The result is a fascinating work that combines a moving love story witha plea for more understanding about this most cruel of diseases.'
(The Times )'This is a vivid, moving and absorbing tale, with its sensitive, realistic engagement with all the consequences of, and stigma attached to leprosy, elevating it beyond holiday literature.'
(Observer )'Gently gripping tale'
(Scotsman on Sunday )'Brings dignity and tenderness to her novel'
(Telegraph )'a compelling story that has rarely left the bestseller list this year and deservedly so'
(Sunday Express )
Synopsis
The Island "was the Sunday Times "number one paperback for eight weeks and won Richard & Judy's Summer Read 2006On the brink of a life-changing decision, Alexis Fielding longs to find out about her mother's past. But Sofia has never spoken of it. All she admits to is growing up in a small Cretan village before moving to London. When Alexis decides to visit Crete, however, Sofia gives her daughter a letter to take to an old friend, and promises that through her she will learn more. Arriving in Plaka, Alexis is astonished to see that it lies a stone's throw from the tiny, deserted island of Spinalonga -- Greece's former leper colony. Then she finds Fotini, and at last hears the story that Sofia has buried all her life: the tale of her great-grandmother Eleni and her daughters and a family rent by tragedy, war and passion. She discovers how intimately she is connected with the island, and how secrecy holds them all in its powerful grip...
Customer Reviews
The Editor's Wife's Book
I gather that Mrs Ian Hislop's husband is none other than the Editor of Private Eye, which perhaps accounts for the reason why this book was published. As a piece of writing it has no merits and I have yet to meet anyone who, having read it, actually enjoyed it. It is a given that to get published these days you have to either be a journalist or be married to one.
Hype
Hype led me to read this book which, I felt sure, was going to be a winner. How wrong I was! This was like reading a history book of the driest kind. The prose was flat, dull and utterly uninspired. There was a marked absence of use of original metaphor or simile or any richness of language that would have made the book with its unusual subject matter an exciting read. As it clunked along I found myself struggling to finish it - and at the end I'd forgotten all about Alex and Ed as, after the first brief introduction, no reference whatsoever had been made to them until the end. It is hard to see why this book got published. Is it possible to give it 0 stars?
How did such poor writing make it into print?
I began reading The Island as part of a book group choice, but failed to make it past the halfway mark. Hislop has the bones of an interesting novel here, but she has thrown it away with her amateurish writing. She must be connected in the publishing world, because most editors would have decimated a draft of this quality. A similar manuscript from an unknown novelist would probably have languished forever in the agent/publisher's slush pile. The characters are undeveloped; some of the dialogue is risible; character viewpoints are switched at random, but not in a way which leaves the reader confident that the author is doing it for a purpose.
What I find staggering is that, following its recommendation by Richard and Judy, this is now a best seller. "Set the Hype Drive to maximum, Scotty."
I do not like to leave an entirely negative review, so I will mention some of the positive points that struck me about The Island. Hmmm...give me a couple of minutes; I'm sure something will occur to me.
