Maria’s Island Victoria Hislop Review

MARIA’S ISLAND BY VICTORIA HISLOP

ILLUSTRATED BY GILL SMITH

Hardback published by Walker Books 3rd June 2021

A powerful and enchanting tale of love, separation and stigma.

My name is Maria Petrakis. This is the story of my life.

Inspired by the bestselling novel. The Island, and retold as a story for children. Maria’s moving tale of how her fate was bound to the Cretan island of Spinalonga is full of friendship and family, courage and hope. Above all, it is the perfect story for our time.

MY REVIEW

Maria’s Island by Victoria Hislop is the most highest level of interest for children of 8 years plus. This marvellous book has fabulous creations of illustrations that children with love to study and take in all the details of all the characters.

Although this book is aimed at 8 and overs I absolutely adored it. I have to say that Maria’s Island is my top favourite book by author Victoria Hislop.

With our own emotional times with coronavirus and death, and with now so many having to isolate, this book the story of Maria’s Island is quite an emotional book with Leprosy. Our own doctors and nurses caught coronavirus and died , it’s the same in this story, where not only people were catching it but nurses too caught Leprosy.

If I could have given Maria’s Island by Victoria Hislop more tan 5 stars I would have been very happy to have done so, as I found this book went to the extra mile of being very educational, part fictional, part true, with history and geography blended throughout this amazing easy read children’s book. I absolutely loved reading and taking in every word. Further more I believe that this book it very suitable for adults like me to have the pleasure in reading.

I would urge all parents and schools to read and discuss about the terrible events that took place in Maria’s Island.

About the story.

Rita lives in London but she half Greek. Every summer she goes with her parents on a long journey by plane and a boat to the island of Crete to visit her yiaya that is Greek for grandma. Crete became part of Greece in 1913.

Rita and her parents stay in Agios Nikolaos in her grandma’s apartment overlooking the the beautiful sea. Her grandma teaches Rita a Cretan dance.

Rita’s mother asks Rita’s grandma if she would come to live in England with them, but it’s far too cold for her in England and she has far too much to look after Crete. Rita doesn’t understand what her grandma has to look after.

Rita wants her grandma to take her on a bus to the village. While they are at the village her grandma points out where she used to live as child with her parents.

It is while they are alone together Rita’s grandma Maria, openly talks about living in Plaka with her parents and family. Maria tells her granddaughter Rita how lots of people including her family were effected by a disease Leprosy. And anyone that became effected by Leprosy was immediately taken away by a boat and sent to an island known as Spinalonga.

Maria’s friend Dimitris who was like a brother to her, he first caught Leprosy, being sent by boat to isolate on the small island Spinalonga. Then her mother caught it and was taken away to the island too. Unfortunately it was long before Maria was sent to Spinalonga. Way back then it was the law that anyone infected with the disease were all sent to Spinalonga to stop the spread of Leprosy.

I found this extremely educational as I knew nothing about Leprosy until I read Maria’s Island by Victoria Hislop.

I loved every single word written inside Maria’s Island and totally adored all the illustrations by Gill Smith. This is a real must buy, must read.

About Leprosy in the 21st century

Leprosy is one of the world’s oldest diseases. It is caused by bacteria that effects the nerves of the hands, feet and face. If left untreated it can cause pain, disfigurement and result in permanent disability. There is now an effective cure, but millions of people around the world are still disabled by the consequences of Leprosy and are subjected to discrimination and social exclusion, like Eleni, Dimitris and Maria in the story. This prejudice also makes people fearful of coming forward for diagnosis.

My special thanks to

I have to say with my hand on my heart a mega big thank you to walker Books for sending me this wonderful book Maria’s Island to read and review ❤️

About author Victoria Hislop

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.Her first novel, The Island, held the number one slot in the Sunday Times paperback charts for eight consecutive weeks and has sold over two million copies worldwide. Victoria was the Newcomer of the Year at the Galaxy British Book Awards 2007 and won the Richard & Judy Summer Read competition.

Her second novel, The Return, was also a Sunday Times number one bestseller, and her books have been translated into more than twenty languages. A short story collection, One Cretan Evening, was published in September and both a third novel, The Thread is published in English in October and in Greek in November 2011.

 

She is also an ambassador for Lepra, as the world’s first Leprosy prevention organisation. Lepra is an international charity that has been on the forecourt of prevention, treatment and management of Leprosy since 1924.

https://victoriahislop.com/

https://www.walker.co.uk/Maria-s-Island-9781406399073.aspx