The Figurine by Victoria Hislop ⭐️⭐️⭐️

We first meet Helena as a young girl when she is sent to Athens to spend the summer with her estranged grandparents. Her grandfather is formidable and unfriendly but thanks to her loving grandmother and their maid she comes to love the summers spent in her mother’s native city.

As we follow Helena into adulthood she continues her passion for all things Greek and volunteers at an archeological site on one of the many islands but it’s not just the artifacts that she uncovers.

I enjoyed this slow paced and well researched read but found that the plot took slightly too long to develop to completely hold my interest. Hislop has always been one of my favourite historical fiction writers but as my tastes have changed I’m beginning to move away from these type of books so I think this was a case of ‘it’s not you, it’s me’

The Figurine is an absorbing and compelling story set in Greece. The characters are well written and the historical dynamics of the troubled country clearly presented. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc

I absolutely loved this. Captivating, enthralling and beautifully written. In try Victoria Hislop fashion this kept me hanging on to every single word

This book is just beautiful. Victoria Hislop has once again pulled it out the bag. Not only do you get a wonderful story. You also get to understand some of the history of what happened in Greece.

Every year Helena would visit her grandparents apartment in Athens. Whilst her grandmother would do everything to make her stay a good one. Her grandfather was cold and cruel. He was a general in the military dictatorship, as much as he was brutal to others, he could be brutal to Helena. her parents never visited with her and Helena could never understand why her mother would not want to see her parents.
Years later, Helena inherit her grandparents apartment. as she goes to clear out the place which she is going to sell, she discovers many valuable objects and antiquities which belong in Greece. Things that happened all those years ago in the 60s come back to her, and she realises the significance of how her grandfather came about them

Helena has a love of Greece and its antiques. She realises that she has the opportunity to make some kind of amends for the disservice. The Greek people have suffered. It may only be a small thing, but she wants to do what’s right. Along her journey she meets many people. Some who want to use her However, she also finds true friendship and love in an unlikely way.

The author really gives you a feel for the different characters within the book. You can imagine yourself being in the Athens apartment and experiencing what Helena did. A beautiful read. This book deserves far more than five stars, and it’s probably my Read of the year.

A wonderful story filled with history. I always love that you can feel Victoria Hislop’s love for Greece through her writing, and there’s always so much to learn as the fiction is woven in with real facts from history.

I really enjoyed it as I do all her books and will certainly recommending this to others.

Thank you SO much to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I absolutely loved this!! Such great characters and a great storyline.

My full review is to follow in a few days.....

Thank you Headline and Netgalley for this wonderful ARC.
Victoria really has done it again!
This was an absolutely fabulous read which I couldn't put down. Set in Greece (my favourite place). Victoria has as always done her research and this was amazing.
I have read all of Victoria's books and this is up there with the rest.
You must read this (I've bought it for my Mum!)

Victoria Hislop has a seemingly effortless ability to transport the reader to the setting for her novels. The Figurine takes us to Athens and some of the Greek islands and it made me feel part of the story in only a way a brilliant writer can.

Our heroine is Helena who we follow from early childhood staying with her Greek grandparents, to adulthood and heartbreak and shocking discoveries about her grandfather's past.

With a fascinating eye for detail, this story of Greek history and archaeology is just sublime. With family discoveries, grief and a smattering of romance, The Figurine is a captivating and immersive read.

The Figurine is an epic story of family, love, loss, friendship and betrayal and finally revenge. Helena a British girl, daughter of a Greek mother and Scottish father inherits the Athens apartment of her late grandparents. This evokes memories of her visits there as a 12 year old to her beloved grandmother and the army chief grandfather she despised, like her mother before her she hated everything he stood for.
Victoria Hislop’s passion for Greece shines through. I felt transported back to my many Greek holidays.
All of Victoria’s books are so well researched and are rich in detail, from the history, the people, the architecture and the food. I absolutely loved this book, it was wonderful.

When Helena inherits her grandparent’s apartment in Athens, she is instantly drawn into a world of artefacts and valuable objects.

Helena has a natural passion for archaeology, so she has a general curiosity around the artefacts, but also about how they came to be in her family's possession.

She knows that her Grandfather had been a general under previous military dictatorship and wonders if there was a human cost to obtaining his treasure trove...

No matter what, Helena is determined to return the precious objects to their rightful places and to find justice for anyone who may have been harmed by the acquisition.

This is a beautifully written book, and I look forward to more from this author.

What a wonderful book mainly set in Greece. The author has clearly done her research and it shows in this captivating story, although also very thought provoking. This story is not normally my genre but I took a chance on the initial description and I am glad I did. The characters and the country were not what I was expecting but the authors descriptions capture a beautiful place full of majestic beauty and historic significance. A great read from a respected author

This was a fabulous read, real escapism, set in Greece I really enjoyed this book, great historical fiction never disappoints I’ve read all her books

This was my first time reading a book from the author but I am delighted to say I thoroughly enjoyed the story and I look forward to reading more books from the writer in the future

I maybe went into this one with wrong expectations and thus I came out rather dissappointed.
Overall this book really drags on. A quarter in and I don't think the name giving figurine was even mentioned once. Whis is especially weird because the one excellent moment in the novel was when the firt of the figurines makes an appearance. That was a scene between Helena and her mother that was written very intimately - and the ancient figurine really shines in it as well. At this point I had hopes that the book would take another direction, but it didn't.
Then: I don't like child narrators (which is not the author's fault obviously), and while here is not a child that narrates, for a long time it was the child's point of view. And later on I was confusedby the narrative perspective as a whole, because a lot of time the story is unambiguously told from the point of view of Helena/Eleni, the child, but then it switches - without reason or structure, often from one sentence to the next and back - to the point of view of other characters.
The characters, every one of them, are too neat in their clichés, in their being villains or good people. I was hoping for some nuance from everyone, but until the very end of the book, none appeared. Not one character that was not a cardboard cutout.
From my perspective the novel was a whole lot of wasted opportunities to write an interesting book about family history and family dynamics, about emigration, about Greece, its history and the dictatorship in the 20th century, about it's ancient history and maybe prehistory, about archeology and artefacts, about the art trade and its very dark side. But it treat any of those things with any depth or craft. It was a confused collection of topics, superficially used to string together a construed plot that I was never interested in reading, because it was very obvious from the start.
To finish the book I had to fall back to the audiobook version at some point, because I would not drag myself to pick up the ebook. Unfortunately the audiobook narrator did her best to emulate an artifical voice and it didn't help that even when that child was 18 or so, the narrator still used a child like voice when she did her.
All in all this is probably the only book by Victoria Hislop I'll ever read. I'm not the intended audience, I'm afraid.

Another winner by this author. Highlighting the harshness of modern Greek history and the illegal trade in antiquities, we see all of this through the eyes of Helena, a half Greek and Scottish girl. The glimpses of life in athens from her privileged and corrupt grandfather, and then she is caught up in a romance and betrayed, discovering her unwitting role in the looting of antiquities, leads to her direction in the pursuit of justice and fairness. Along the way we have a rich cast of characters and a generous dollop of Greek hospitality and sunshine.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-arc of this book!

This is such a beautiful story about the history of Greece and the figurines. Helena is overpowered by emotions of childhood memories in Greece when she inherits her Grandparents apartment in Athens. Helena wants to find answers to her Grandfathers cruel dictatorship and sifting through the apartment finds many valuable antiques and objects which she is determined to figure out why they are there.

This is an absolutely beautiful story. Victoria captures Greece in so much detail I feel like I am immersed into the story so deeply and I felt every emotion with Helena throughout. It was a long story but the amount of detail was definitely needed to really capture the whole picture of the story. There are some moving chapters and the slow transition into a slight thriller is brilliant and didn’t go unnoticed!

Definitely recommend this lovely book and incredible author.

I have read several of Victoria Hislop's book and they have all been wonderful. This one was no exception, fabulous feeling of the country and it's relics. I did find myself getting a bit bored with so much Greek language in the first part of the book, when she visited her grandparents for holidays. However the story warmed up when she was an adult and went to University.
After that I found the story quite immersive and longed to get back to it.
A great book.

Victoria Hislop has a clear love affair with Greece. The descriptions of Greece, the food, and its people are exquisite in The Figurine. Helena spends her summers with her grandparents in Athens, where she finds an affinity for the life and culture. As an adult, she returns rk the islands on an archaeological dig, where she uncovers more than she bargained for. She returns to her grandparents' house in Athens to clear it after their passing to uncover a treasure trive of antiquities that have been amassed and need returning to their rightful place. This was a great story, beautifully told, but a little drawn out in places. Still recommend as a solid read. #thefigurine #victoriahislop #netgalley

I really enjoyed this book.Victoria at her best as this is on par with the Island.Loved the era its set it and the historical aspects.

When Helena inherits her grandparent’s apartment in Athens, she finds an array of valuable objects.
Her Grandfather had been a general under the military dictatorship - how had he amassed such a treasure trove and at what human cost.
Her desire to find answers also linked nicely to her curiosity for archaeology following a summer spent on a dig
Helena is determined to return the precious objects to their rightful places and to find justice for those harmed by the illegal trade of selling ancient finds.
Loved the gorgeous setting of Athens & Greece.
Helena as a main character was likeable and engaging and loved how in her quest to give the precious objects back to their rightful owners, she starts to question her own meaning of home.
The book powerfully argues for the protection of finds and the respect of local cultures.
However it is a hefty tomb of a book at 500 pages, but just abandon yourself to the book and you’ll learn so much it’s fascinating.
Perfect for any historical fiction fan
Thanks @vichislop @headlinebooks & @netgalley for the opportunity to read.