Le Livre de Poche: La Statuette
- 720 pages
- 26 hours of reading
Victoria Hislop is celebrated for her compelling novels that often delve into the rich tapestry of historical events, exploring intricate family dynamics and the enduring impact of personal choices. Her writing is characterized by a vivid ability to bring the past to life, infused with detailed settings and profound psychological insight into her characters. A recurring theme in her work is the resilience of the human spirit and the persistent thread of hope, even amidst challenging circumstances, making her narratives both poignant and unforgettable. Readers are drawn to her masterful storytelling, which transports them to different eras and locations with remarkable authenticity.







A beautiful, moving, and thought-provoking story, this stunning read immerses you in Greece's enchanting history. Family turmoil, unanswered questions, romance, and betrayal unfold against a backdrop that transports readers to a brilliantly drawn world. As you feel the sun on your face and the sand of the Aegean islands beneath your feet, you uncover the fate of Bronze Age figurines in this heart-pounding novel from a No. 1 bestselling author. Inheriting her grandparents' Athens apartment, Helena McCloud discovers a hidden hoard of rare antiquities, collected during a dark period of military dictatorship in Greece. Her fascination with archaeology, sparked by a summer dig on an Aegean island, compels her to return these precious artefacts to their rightful place. Only then can she confront the shadows of the past and find the true meaning of home—both for the cultural treasures and for herself. This powerful novel sheds light on the questionable acquisition of antiquities and the lengths people will go to possess them. Victoria Hislop's compelling storytelling captivates readers, drawing them into a richly detailed world filled with warm, sympathetic characters. With vivid scenery and a captivating narrative, this book promises to be an unforgettable journey through Greece's history and culture.
In her irresistible new novel, Sunday Times No 1 bestselling author Victoria Hislop shines a light on the questionable acquisition of cultural treasures and the price people - and countries - will pay to cling on to them.Of all the ancient art that captures the imagination, none is more appealing than the Cycladic figurine. An air of mystery swirls around these statuettes from the Bronze Age and they are highly sought after by collectors - and looters - alike.When Helena inherits her grandparents' apartment in Athens, she is overwhelmed with memories of the summers she spent there as a child, when Greece was under a brutal military dictatorship. Her remote, cruel grandfather was one of the regime's generals and as she sifts through the dusty rooms, Helena discovers an array of valuable objects and antiquities. How did her grandfather amass such a trove? What human price was paid for them?Helena's desire to find answers about her heritage dovetails with a growing curiosity for archaeology, ignited by a summer spent with volunteers on a dig on an Aegean island. Their finds fuel her determination to protect the precious fragments recovered from the baked earth - and to understand the origins of her grandfather's collection.Helena's attempt to make amends for some of her grandfather's actions sees her wrestle with the meaning of 'home', both in relation to looted objects of antiquity ... and herself.
A dramatic and moving story set in the same world as the international bestseller The Island from the celebrated novelist Victoria Hislop. The absorbing story of the Cretan village of Plaka and the tiny, deserted island of Spinalonga - Greece's former leper colony - is told to us by Maria Petrakis, one of the children in the original version of The Island. She tells us of the ancient and misunderstood disease of leprosy, exploring the themes of stigma, shame and the treatment of those who are different, which are as relevant for children as adults. Gill Smith's rich, full-colour illustrations will transport the reader to the timeless and beautiful Greek landscape and Mediterranean seascape.
The NEW Sunday Times Number One bestseller from Victoria Hislop, author of multi-million-copy bestsellers, including The Island, The Sunrise and Cartes Postales from Greece.
Athens, 1941. As Nazi forces occupy Greece, the nation descends into chaos. This gripping narrative explores the darker days of Greek history through the eyes of Themis, a courageous fifteen-year-old caught in a family divided by political ideologies. The German invasion exacerbates existing tensions, leading to widespread famine and the loss of friends, which compels Themis to engage in acts of resistance. Following the occupation, she joins the Communist army during the civil war, confronting the extremes of love and hatred as Greeks fight against one another. Imprisoned on the notorious islands of Makronisos and Trikeri, she meets another prisoner, and their lives become intertwined in unforeseen ways. Themis grapples with her principles and her yearning for freedom. Reflecting on her life, she discovers the intricate connections between personal and political struggles. While some wounds may heal, others deepen, revealing the complexity of her experiences. This narrative sheds light on Greece's traumatic past and tells the epic story of an ordinary woman navigating an extraordinary life amidst turmoil.
Beloved author Victoria Hislop returns to Crete in this long-anticipated sequel to her multi-million-copy bestseller. On August 25, 1957, the island of Spinalonga closes its leper colony, leading to a moment of violence with devastating consequences. Time stands still for Maria Petrakis and her sister, Anna, as two families splinter apart, and the people of Plaka are forever marked by tragedy. In the aftermath, they must confront stigma and scandal while seeking to rebuild their lives from the ruins of the past. This sequel reunites readers with familiar characters in the weeks leading up to the evacuation of the island and beyond. Hislop's storytelling captures the essence of Greece, immersing readers in the atmosphere of the Greek Islands. Praised for her immersive narratives, Hislop evokes the beauty and complexity of Greece's history through a compelling family saga filled with themes of love, betrayal, and resilience. With a reputation for enchanting tales, Hislop's writing transports readers to another time and place, making it clear why ten million readers worldwide cherish her novels. This dramatic and absorbing narrative promises to be a page-turner that will leave readers captivated.
Avec le talent qu'on lui connait, Victoria Hislop nous emmene au fil de dix nouvelles a travers les rues d'Athenes et les parcs ombrages des villages grecs. En evoquant leurs atmospheres si particulieres, elle donne vie a un grand nombre de personnages inoubliables: un pretre solitaire, deux freres qui n'arretent pas de se quereller, un etranger indesirable, une charmante patissiere, ou encore un jeune marie a la memoire defaillante. A la maniere d'une aquarelliste, l'auteur de L'Ile des oublies explore les sentiments humains. Amour, loyaute, separation, reconciliation... nul mouvement de l'ame n'echappe a son ecriture envoutante. Le style Hislop: une petite cantate qui chante doucement la Mediterranee, la famille et un passe qu'on connait mal. Le Point.
Week after week, the postcards arrive, addressed to a name Ellie does not know, with no return address, each signed with an initial: A. With their bright skies, blue seas and alluring images of Greece, these cartes postales brighten her life. After six months, to her disappointment, they cease. But the montage she has created on the wall of her flat has cast a spell. She must see this country for herself. On the morning Ellie leaves for Athens, a notebook arrives. Its pages tell the story of a man's odyssey through Greece. Moving, surprising and sometimes dark, A's tale unfolds with the discovery not only of a culture but also of a desire to live life to the full once more. Beloved, bestselling author Victoria Hislop's Cartes Postales from Greece is fiction illustrated with photographs that make this journey around Greece, already alive in the imagination, linger forever in the mind.
Alexis' verleden is onlosmakelijk met Kreta verbonden, maar geheimen staan haar geluk in de weg
Sommeren 1972. Famagusta på Kypros er Middelhavets mest ettertraktede feriested, en by som oser av lykke og velstand. Et ambisiøst par er i ferd med å åpne øyas mest spektakulære hotell, hvor greske og tyrkiske kyprioter jobber side om side. De to nabofamiliene Georgiou og Özkan er blant de mange som har flyttet til Famagusta for å komme unna uroligheter og etnisk vold andre steder på øya. Et gresk militærkupp på øya skaper kaos, og Kypros står ovenfor en katastrofal konflikt. Tyrkia invaderer Kypros for å beskytte den tyrkisk-kypriotiske minoriteten og Famagusta blir beleiret. Førti tusen mennesker må flykte fra soldatene som stadig er på fremmarsj. I den forlatte byen er det bare to familier igjen. Dette er deres historie.
Quand elle arrive à Grenade pour y prendre des cours de danse, Sonia, jeune Londonienne, ne sait rien du passé de la ville. Une conversation avec le patron du café El Barril la plonge dans la tragique destinée de la famille Ramírez : dans les années 1930 vivaient dans ces lieux trois frères aux idéaux opposés, veillant jalousement sur leur jeune soeur, Mercedes, passionnée de flamenco. Tandis que celle-ci tombe amoureuse du guitariste gitan qui l'accompagne, l'Espagne sombre dans la guerre civile. Quel camp chacun va-t-il choisir ? Quels secrets et trahisons vont déchirer la fratrie à jamais ? Happée par ce récit de feu et de sang, Sonia est loin d'imaginer que sa propre existence en sera bouleversée.
'Love is, of course, a central preoccupation of literature...' Victoria Hislop, bestselling author and champion of the short story, has chosen her favourite short stories by women writers. Here are prizewinners, famous wits, well-known feminists, national treasures and rising stars. Love is represented in this volume in all its guises - romantic, maternal, happy and haunting. CONTRIBUTORS: Katherine Mansfield, Dorothy Parker, Doris Lessing, Margaret Drabble, Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood, Ellen Gilchrist, Alice Walker, Mavis Gallant, Carol Shields, Anne Enright, Elspeth Davie, Alison Lurie, Jennifer Egan, Jeanette Winterson, Claire Boylan, Maggie Gee, Colette Paul, Rachel Seiffert, Yiyun Li, Nadine Gordimer, Miranda July, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Carys Davies, Alison MacLeod, Emma Donoghue, Roshi Fernando, M. J. Hyland and Avril Joy.
1917, Thessalonique. Le jour de la naissance de Dimitris, un terrible incendie détruit la ville. Sa famille doit déménager dans les quartiers populaires. C’est là aussi que viennent s’installer des réfugiés turcs quelques années après. Parmi eux, Katherina. Le destin réunit les deux enfants, l’un héritier d’un empire textile, l’autre couturière prodige. Ensemble, ils seront les témoins d’une Grèce tourmentée, de l’occupation allemande aux révolutions civiles et à la dictature, qui défigureront leur cité autrefois multiethnique et fraternelle. Presque un siècle plus tard, de quels secrets sont-ils les gardiens ? Comment les transmettre avant qu’il ne soit trop tard ? Le temps est venu de dérouler le fil de leurs souvenirs…
In the summer of 1972, Famagusta in Cyprus is the most desirable resort in the Mediterranean, a city bathed in the glow of good fortune. An ambitious couple are about to open the island's most spectacular hotel, where Greek and Turkish Cypriots work in harmony. Two neighbouring families, the Georgious and the Özkans, are among many who moved to Famagusta to escape the years of unrest and ethnic violence elsewhere on the island. But beneath the city's façade of glamour and success, tension is building. When a Greek coup plunges the island into chaos, Cyprus faces a disastrous conflict. Turkey invades to protect the Turkish Cypriot minority, and Famagusta is shelled. Forty thousand people seize their most precious possessions and flee from the advancing soldiers. In the deserted city, just two families remain. This is their story.
Three of these stories were previously published in Victoria Hislop's ebook collection, One Cretan Evening. In ten powerful stories, Victoria Hislop takes us through the streets of Athens and into the tree-lined squares of Greek villages. As she evokes their distinct atmosphere, she brings vividly to life a host of unforgettable characters, from a lonesome priest to battling brothers, and from an unwanted stranger to a groom troubled by music and memory. These bittersweet tales of love and loyalty, of separation and reconciliation, captured in Victoria Hislop's unique voice, will stay with you long after you reach the end.
'I think few of the stories in Loss will leave readers cold...' Victoria Hislop, bestselling author and champion of the short story, has chosen her favourite short stories by women writers. Here are prizewinners, famous wits, well-known feminists, national treasures and rising stars. All the stories in this volume are about loss: lost lives, lost loves, lost innocence, even a lost leopard. The many ways in which loss touches our lives are shown in these varied stories. CONTRIBUTORS: Katherine Mansfield, Elizabeth Bowen, Dorothy Parker, Shirley Jackson, Flannery O'Connor, Elizabeth Taylor, Jean Rhys, Anna Kavan, Muriel Spark, Ellen Gilchrist, Penelope Fitzgerald, Lorrie Moore, Hilary Mantel, Susan Hill, Colette Paul, Yiyun Li, Helen Simpson, Edna O'Brien, Edith Pearlman, Emma Donoghue, Carrie Tiffany and Lucy Wood.
Thessaloniki, 1917. As Dimitri Komninos is born, a devastating fire sweeps through the thriving Greek city where Christians, Jews and Muslims live side by side. Five years later, Katerina Sarafoglou's home in Asia Minor is destroyed by the Turkish army. Losing her mother in the chaos, she flees across the sea to an unknown destination in Greece. Soon her life will become entwined with Dimitri's, and with the story of the city itself, as war, fear and persecution begin to divide its people. Thessaloniki, 2007. A young Anglo-Greek hears his grandparents' life story for the first time and realises he has a decision to make. For many decades, they have looked after the memories and treasures of the people who were forced to leave. Should he become their next custodian and make this city his home?
Alexis Fielding staat op het punt een belangrijke beslissing in haar leven te nemen, en daarom wil ze meer weten over het verleden van haar moeder. Het enige wat Sofia kwijt wil, is dat ze haar jeugd doorbracht in een klein dorpje op Kreta voordat ze naar Londen verhuisde. Als Alexis besluit om naar Kreta te reizen, geeft Sofia haar een brief mee voor Fotini, een oude vriendin. Op Kreta vertelt Fotini wat Sofia al haar hele leven verborgen houdt: hoe haar familie verscheurd werd door ongeluk, oorlog en passie. Alexis ontdekt dat het verleden van haar familie nauw verbonden is met het kleine eiland Spinalonga, maar ook dat sommige geheimen hun nog altijd in de weg staan…
Alexis Fieldings mor, Sofia, har aldri fortalt noe om bakgrunnen sin. Alt hun vil si er at hun vokste opp i en landsby på Kreta før hun flyttet til London. Da Alexis bestemmer seg for å dra til Kreta, gir imidlertid Sofia henne et brev som hun ber henne overlevere til ei gammel venninne. Da hun ankommer landsbyen Pláka, oppdager Alexis at den ligger et steinkast fra den forlatte øya Spinalonga, ei øy som tidligere var bebodd av spedalske. Når hun møter Sofias venninne, Fortini, får hun høre historia om oldemora Eleni og døtrene hennes, og en familie som var hjemsøkt av tragedier, kriger og lidenskap.
An atmospheric, vibrant and moving tale of pain and passion at the heart of war-torn Spain, from the million-copy bestselling author of The Island and The Thread.
The acclaimed million-copy number one bestseller and winner of Richard & Judy's Summer Read 2006 from Victoria Hislop is a dramatic tale of four generations, rent by war, illicit love, violence and leprosy, from the thirties, through the war, to the present day. 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...
Four novels selected and condensed by Reader's Digest.