The Island

The Island by Victoria Hislop is a story written about the island of Spinalonga off the coast of Crete. The island was a leper colony from 1903 to 1957.It was probably one of the last active leper colonies in Europe.

The story : The Petrakis family lives in the small Greek seaside village of Plaka. Just off the coast is the tiny island of Spinalonga, where the nation's leper colony was once located—a place that has haunted four generations of Petrakis women. Eleni, Maria, and Anna. Alexis, Eleni's great-granddaughter, visits Greece to unlock her family's past.

This is a novel of lives set in the Mediterranean during World War II. The Island is a story of dreams and desires, of secrets desperately hidden, and of leprosy's touch on a  family. ( A shortened review )

Lead complete.