Editors Reads Verdict
A richly warm historical novel that makes Spinalonga's extraordinary story accessible to a general audience — and transforms a visit to Crete's eastern end into a deeply felt encounter with living history.
What We Loved
- The Spinalonga leper colony is one of the most extraordinary historical sites in Greece — Hislop gives it the human depth it deserves
- The four-generation family saga structure makes the novel compulsively readable across its historical sweep
- The Cretan village of Plaka and the eastern Crete landscape are rendered with specific beauty
- The novel treats leprosy and stigma with dignity and historical accuracy
Minor Drawbacks
- The contemporary framing device (the daughter visiting Crete) is less compelling than the historical sections
- Some of the earlier historical sections are slightly schematic in characterisation
- Readers who want literary challenge rather than warm storytelling may find it conventional
Key Takeaways
- → Spinalonga was Europe's last active leper colony, housing patients from 1903 to 1957 — within living memory
- → The island's residents built a functioning community with its own shops, coffee houses, and social life despite their isolation
- → Leprosy stigma destroyed families and communities in 20th-century Crete in ways that the medical treatment of the disease did not immediately repair
| Author | Victoria Hislop |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Harper |
| Pages | 432 |
| Published | January 1, 2005 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction |
| Difficulty | Beginner |
| Best For | Readers visiting Crete and eastern Crete; historical fiction lovers; anyone interested in the human stories behind extraordinary historical places. |
Spinalonga is a small island at the entrance of the Gulf of Elounda in eastern Crete. For most of its history it was a Venetian fortress; from 1903 to 1957 it was Greece’s last functioning leper colony. Today it is one of Crete’s most visited historical sites — accessible by small boat from the village of Elounda — and The Island has made it famous far beyond Greece.
Victoria Hislop visited Spinalonga and was haunted by what she saw: a complete, abandoned village, preserved almost intact since the colony closed in 1957. The houses, the church, the medical facilities, the coffee house — all standing, all empty. She began researching the lives of the people who had lived there, and discovered that the colony’s residents had built something that the word “colony” does not convey: a real community, with its own social hierarchy, its own commerce, its own love affairs and disputes and aspirations.
The novel follows four generations of the Petrakis family from their village of Plaka — directly across a narrow stretch of water from Spinalonga — through the decades when the island dominated their lives. The contemporary frame, in which a young British woman visits Crete and discovers her family’s connection to the island, serves as a portal into the historical story.
The Greek television adaptation in 2010 was watched by roughly half the population of Greece each week — a cultural phenomenon that confirmed Spinalonga’s place in the modern Greek imagination. The novel has sold over a million copies in the UK alone and introduced a generation of British tourists to eastern Crete.
Reading Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "The Island" about?
A young British woman visits Crete and discovers her family's connection to Spinalonga — the island across the bay that served as Greece's last functioning leper colony until 1957 — uncovering four generations of love, stigma, and survival.
Who should read "The Island"?
Readers visiting Crete and eastern Crete; historical fiction lovers; anyone interested in the human stories behind extraordinary historical places.
What are the key takeaways from "The Island"?
Spinalonga was Europe's last active leper colony, housing patients from 1903 to 1957 — within living memory The island's residents built a functioning community with its own shops, coffee houses, and social life despite their isolation Leprosy stigma destroyed families and communities in 20th-century Crete in ways that the medical treatment of the disease did not immediately repair
Is "The Island" worth reading?
A richly warm historical novel that makes Spinalonga's extraordinary story accessible to a general audience — and transforms a visit to Crete's eastern end into a deeply felt encounter with living history.
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