I had previously reviewed this in June 2019. I found this too slow paced for me but absolutely embedded in Greek wartime history

As ever Victoria Hislop is the consummate historical novelist of our time and her latest book is no exception.
Quickly the reader is drawn in and enters the life of a quiet grandmother who surprises her grandchildren by telling them about her experiences as a young women.
A well researched novel as we would come to expect which deals with Greece during the Second World War and its following civil war and the hardships and atrocities that the people of that country had to encounter.

I have enjoyed all of Victoria Hislop's novels. They are always wonderfully researched and illuminate periods of Greek history and the stories of its people.
This time, we are in Athens during WWII and the Nazi occupation and the subsequent civil war. The story is told through the lives of a set of siblings who find themselves on opposite sides of the conflicts and ideologies. Focusing on the youngest sibling, it is a gripping and often tragic tale of love, loss and betrayal.
As with her other novels, I highly recommend reading this.

I am not sure how this happened. I thought this was a sequel to her previous novel but it appears I have already read it. Here is my previous review.

An epic novel covering Greece and its history. I devoured it with joy, sadness and pleasure. It enlightened me as to the history of Greece and to war and dictatorships with many parallels to today.

Highly recommended for those readers who loved The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah.

I think I’ve read too many similar books recently so didn’t finish this. I have enjoyed other books by this author but this one did not hold my attention

I am a huge fan of Hislop and her novel 'The Island' is one of my all time favourites.
Whilst I enjoyed the majority of this book, I found parts of it slow, and I felt the last 20% made it unnecessarily long and dampened my enjoyment. I also struggled with the names of the characters as they were too similar.
That being said, this was a hugely relevant story and taught me a great deal about Greece in World War 2 and the political divide that remained. Hislop has a great talent of weaving historical facts into a great drama.

Another brilliant book by Victoria Hislop. This was obviously written by someone who understands the Greek psyche. It combined excellent research with a beautifully written storyline. There were so many reminders of Greek life: the food, the language, the rituals. I loved this book and would thoroughly recommend it to all my friends.
Thank you Victoria Hislop, Headline and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and give my unbiased opinion of this wonderful book.

This was a very enlightening read, very thought-provoking about a period of wartime history. Great characters and the usual brilliant writing style that makes you want to keep reading. I'm a huge fan of Victoria Hislop and she never disappoints.