One August Night: Sequel to much-loved classic, The Island

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In the aftermath, the question of how to resume life looms large. Stigma and scandal need to be confronted and somehow, for those impacted, a future built from the ruins of the past’ The historical element which gives us details regarding the island where the leprosy patients were treated has taught me something also that i didnt know. This book follows the characters and the life of the families from the first book, their hopes and dreams, tragedies and the terrible consequences of their actions.

For me, it felt like the story didn’t go anywhere... the story was told through a great deal of narration, with swathes of time being written off, as ‘a year later...’. The dialogue was mostly gentle and sanguine - no family dramas, despite the fact the families had been ‘splintered’. Since I first read The Island, a book passed to me by my mother, I have been a Victoria Hislop fan. Her books are always interesting and informative of events that have taken place.Again there is a lot of historical knowledge shown in the novel about the facts of leprosy and the cure for it. As well as the feeling of somebody who knows about the culture of the area. Posve mi je razumljivo zašto je gđa Hislop dobila počasno državljanstvo Grčke, njene knjige koje sam pročitala na zanimljiv i pristupačan način opisuju razdoblja iz povijesti ove zemlje (Oni koji su voljeni, Otok, Jedne ljetne noći).

One August Night focuses on events just prior to and after the return of those exiled on the island, a return made possible by the discovery of a cure for leprosy. You might think it a cause for celebration and indeed for some it is, bringing the prospect of being reunited with relatives and friends, and a return to something like a normal life, albeit that many bear the physical and mental scars of their illness. However, the return of others means bringing to the surface a tangled web of relationships, both past and present.

The affair has consequences and the book goes on to show the life that is lead due to the consequences. The story itself had a very relaxed,well written and enjoyable story. Even with tragic elements. Even though this was filled with scandal, heartache and kindness I loved the characters and each one brought a great deal to the story which kept us interested and didnt loose any strength. Having never been to greece i adored the writters imagery and longed to book a holiday to view this for myself!! Great book and long awaited if you have already read her earlier book the Island but you need to have read that to put this one into context Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth

An excellent story if you have read The Island this is the sequel and well worth a read An excellent story if you have read The Island this is the sequel and well worth a read August 1957. The island of Spinalonga closes its leper colony. And a moment of violence has devastating consequences. This novel focuses on the story of Anna, Manolis, Andreas and Maria - maybe because I wasn’t invested in any of the characters enough (even Maria, who was so central to The Island), it felt like I was reading a novel based on a soap, or something a lot less substantial. The characters were mostly one dimensionally, and not fully developed enough for the reader to care about the outcome for any of the characters. International products have separate terms and are sold from abroad and may differ from local products including fit, age rating, and language of product, labeling, or instructions, or plugs (you may require an adapter). When time stops dead for Maria Petrakis and her sister, Anna, two families splinter apart and, for the people of Plaka, the closure of Spinalonga is forever coloured with tragedy.Victoria Hislop read English at Oxford, and worked in publishing, PR and as a journalist before becoming a novelist. She is married with two children. In the aftermath, the question of how to resume life looms large. Stigma and scandal need to be confronted and somehow, for those impacted, a future built from the ruins of the past. The beauty of The Island is the way it immerses the reader into the life and world of the Spinalonga colony, its effects on the with leprosy and the communities it impacted. It also drew you into the Cretan culture. However this novel barely touches on the leprosy/Spinalonga - I was hoping to read more about how the advent of the cure and the closure of the colony impacted Plaka (as promised), the cured and the community. Other than a few mentions - it hardly comes up at all, and certainly isn’t a feature of the story. For me, it failed to captivate my imagination and whisk me away to Crete, circa 1950.

I enjoyed the book but was slightly disappointed that I didn't feel the connection and empathy of the characters that I had previously read of in The Island. However it was great to finally feel like you weren't left in limbo from the story of the Island. It was a interesting read and I learnt a lot about leprosy sufferers and how they were sent away It was a interesting read and I learnt a lot about leprosy sufferers and how they were sent away A very well told story of love, jealousy and forgiveness. It is a sequel to ‘The Island’, but provides little in historical information, mainly focussing on Manolis and leprosy survivor, Maria, and their learning to survive tragic events. The novel is set in Crete in the 1950s and in Australia.Focusing particularly on the lives of Maria and Manolis in the years that follow, the author takes the reader beyond Plaka, and indeed beyond the island of Crete, as both Maria and Manolis struggle with the legacy of that eventful August night. Feeling she must find a way to repay the good fortune that saw her cured of leprosy and married to Nikos, Maria’s solution involves a breathtaking act of forgiveness. But despite being fully cured, the stigma of her leprosy remains although, as she observes, stigma can be a weapon in the right circumstances. Manolis’s solution is to try to banish the past and the memories that haunt him by seeking a new life away from Crete.