Victoria Hislop - The Island

reviewed by Maggie Perkovic on show 16th april 09.
On the brink of a life changing decision, Alexis Fielding longs to find out about her mothers 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 stones throw from the tiny deserted island of Spinalonga...greek's former leper colony. Then she finds Fotina 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.
I read this book at my daughters persuasion, she said I would enjoy it, and how right she was.
If you lived on Plaka and started to develop the terrible disease of Leprosy, you had to go to live in Spinalonga, whether you left family behind even if you were a child you were banished to live out your days on this island. A doctor attended on a daily basis to see the patients both in the early stages and also in the terrible later stages when they knew they would die.
This book takes you back to 1939 and follows the story of the families involved to 1953.
It was enthralling and fascinating to read about the early efforts of scientists to find a cure and how the lives of the islanders were affected by the history of leprosy.
The author carefully evokes the life of the Cretans but also paints a compassionate portrait of the outcasts.
It was a galaxy book award in 2007