The Figurine: Escape to Athens and breathe in the Aegean-scented air in the engrossing novel from the much-loved author

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Victoria Hislop read English at Oxford, and worked in publishing, PR and as a journalist before becoming a novelist. But when the competition is rocked by a scandal, Kate's forced to switch to a new partner, Aleksis , who is just as devastatingly attractive as Merle – but seems to hate her. A dramatic and moving story set in the same world as the international bestseller The Island from the celebrated novelist Victoria Hislop.

The Figurine – Victoria Hislop The Figurine – Victoria Hislop

I was in good hands and was offered surgery — a lumpectomy — a few days before Christmas, which seemed ideal as I wanted it to be over with as soon as possible. When one of the women is found murdered, the police discover an unusual signature left by the killer, giving them reason to suspect he will strike again. I visited the island of Spinalonga, off the coast of Crete, purely because of that book and have eagerly awaiting every one of her books ever since. Helena studies chemistry at Oxford where she meets Nick, an English student and actor who encourages her to join him in Greece on an archaeological dig.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.

Victoria Hislop Books | Waterstones Victoria Hislop Books | Waterstones

When Helena inherits her grandparents' apartment in Athens, she is overwhelmed by memories of childhood summers when Greece was under a brutal military dictatorship. Helena sees the visits as exploring her heritage as she is half Greek but they stop when her grandparents both die. The Figurine starts in 1968 as eight year old Helena McCloud travels alone to Athens to spend the school summer holidays with her maternal grandparents. The excitement about finding hidden treasures was portrayed really well, not just for fame and fortune, but understanding skills and the life of long ago times. She has had to acknowledge her own family’s role in events and wants to, in her own way, put things right and it became almost a heist towards the end as the figurine came up for auction in London.

When Helena inherits her grandparents' apartment in Athens, she is overwhelmed with memories of the summers she spent there as a child in the 1960s. A key location in Victoria’s book THOSE WHO ARE LOVED is Makronisos – a deserted island in the Aegean that was once the site of a political prison from the 1940s to the 1970s. The thefts and the market in stolen Greek artefacts from archaeological digs leads Helena into a world that she never expected and one that her late grandfather was part of.