The Island by Victoria Hislop

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…

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The Island is the latest pick for my office book club, and again it’s one that I wouldn’t have read had it not been selected by a colleague.  As with the other book club picks, I enjoyed it although I did have a few niggles with this one.

It begins with Alexis about to go on holiday to Greece with her boyfriend.  It’s clear that she’s not entirely enamoured with him, and yet seems reluctant to give up on their relationship despite his very obvious flaws.  Knowing nothing about her mother’s background, she takes the opportunity to visit the village where her mother grew up, and there discovers a whole family history that she knew nothing about.  Alexis’s narrative is brief and bookends the novel, serving as a mechanism for her family’s history to be shared.  While it does help to resolve her dilemma (I think that the “life-changing decision” mentioned in the blurb is somewhat exaggerated), I had the sense that she’d already made her mind up but, as can happen, wasn’t quite ready to take the next step. 

Alexis’s family history forms the bulk of the novel.  Her mother has always refused to share the details of her past, and so Alexis is left to discover her own family history with the reader.  While I found it a little contrived in the set up, it is a fascinating history, and begins with Alexis’s great-grandmother, Eleni, before turning to Eleni’s daughters, Maria and Anna.  That history is centred around the small Cretan village of Plaka and the island of Spinalonga which was Greece’s leper colony from 1903 to 1957.  Eleni was a school teacher, and someone who genuinely felt a calling to that profession – she was well liked and respected by all, including her pupils in whom she inspired a desire to learn.  It will come as little surprise that Eleni was diagnosed with leprosy – something which changed her life irrevocably and which saw her leave the family home and her husband and two young girls to live on Spinalonga. 

What this novel did really well was explore what it was like to have leprosy at this time, the stigma that came with it, and what life on Spinalonga was like.  Often considered one of the world’s oldest diseases, anyone diagnosed with leprosy in the thirties – when Eleni’s leprosy became apparent – became shunned, however popular and well-liked they were beforehand.  It’s clear that this largely stemmed from fear and ignorance, as leprosy is not easily transmissible and requires extensive contact to spread between people.  Through Eleni and her peers on Spinalonga, Hislop explores the impact that this disease can have, and also how treatments were slowly developed – and likely delayed by the Second World War – eventually resulting in the closure of the colony in the late 50s.

As Eleni arrives on Spinalonga, she immediately feels underwhelmed, as if the fear, uncertainty, and loss that she has experienced isn’t enough.  There is government support for those living there, providing housing and some amenities, and yet it’s clear that the colony is lacking, particularly when it comes to water and electricity. I loved the democracy that determines who leads the island, with annual votes to avoid the formation of any long-term resentment.  I think it shows that people, when left to their own devices, are capable of dealing with each other fairly.  I also loved watching the colony develop over time as the government finds it increasingly difficult to turn their back on these individuals and is forced to provide additional support, improving the lives of those on Spinalonga although much of the manual labour is undertaken by those residing there.  What develops is a very pleasant-sounding location, and while it doesn’t make up for its raison d’etre, a nice environment in which to live would maybe go some small way to improving the lives of Spinalonga’s residents. 

Back in Plaka, life continues as well as it can for Eleni’s family.   Her husband, Giorgis, and her daughters miss her terribly, but do their best to continue.  Of the daughters, Maria is the pragmatic one – she helps her father keep house despite her youth, understanding that things need to be done.  Anna, on the other hand, quickly proves to be a selfish individual, uninterested in helping, and making more work for her sister through her refusal to provide any assistance.  It comes as no surprise that Anna marries for wealth as much as anything, obtaining the life of luxury that she always felt she deserved and thereby avoiding any form of toil that she feels is beneath her.  Maria and Anna’s stories are also shared as part of this family history, and it soon becomes clear that Eleni’s leprosy is not the only tragedy to affect this family.  I couldn’t help but wonder if things might have turned out differently if their mother had been more present in their lives, although there is a sense of inevitability about events.  

While I enjoyed the novel overall, I did find that it was a little drawn out.  At nearly 500 pages, there’s a lot included in it, and I did feel that there was perhaps a little repetition.  I also felt that Hislop told me a lot of things, rather than showing me them.  Anna’s narrative in particular is not subtle – she screams, and shrieks, and demands but never just says anything.  It felt as though I was constantly being told that she’s a difficult person to be around and while her early life might justify some of her behaviour, I felt that it was over-emphasised at times – she becomes almost comedic in her villainy.  Similarly, the actions of the other characters, many of them stereotypes, are explained when I felt that much could be left to the reader to intuit for themselves.  There is also an element of victim blaming in some of the events which didn’t sit well with me. 

As an historical novel, I found The Island to be an enjoyable read, and a fascinating history of those impacted by leprosy, either as those diagnosed or their wider families.  I personally found the set up to be a little contrived, and would have preferred more subtlety in the narrative, but I enjoyed it overall and would still recommend it to those who enjoy family histories.  And it is a thought-provoking read, and I’ve since been reading up on leprosy and Spinalonga – it’s a novel that has stayed with me, despite the elements which I personally felt were flawed.