One August Night by Victoria Hislop (Review)

Format Read: Paperback

Source: Owned

Publisher: Headline

Genres: Historical Fiction

Publication Date: 22nd July 2021

Synopsis/Blurb (Taken from Goodreads):

“25th August 1957. The island of Spinalonga closes its leper colony. And a moment of violence has devastating consequences.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.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.Number one bestselling author Victoria Hislop returns to the world and characters she created in The Island – the award-winning novel that remains one of the biggest selling reading group novels of the century. It is finally time to be reunited with Anna, Maria, Manolis and Andreas in the weeks leading up to the evacuation of the island… and beyond.”

My Thoughts

Having read The Island many years ago and having loved it I was so excited to pick up this sequel.

As a sequel I was hoping that I would be taken back to the leprosy colony on Spinalonga island, however, that’s not what I got. Instead, we’re taken back to the weeks leading up to when the Island is evacuated, and the majority of the storyline is set in Crete and Spinalonga is hardly mentioned, and when it is mentioned it doesn’t really add anything to the current storyline.

Unlike The Island, I felt the writing style for One August Night was bland and very slow. Yes, there are some beautifully detailed descriptions in places, but it’s just not the same as in the first book.

It was nice seeing familiar names of characters from the first book, however overall the characters felt underdeveloped and the strangest thing I found was that although I found some of their points of views interesting they didn’t seem to have much connection with each other, which made the storyline feel disjointed.

Overall I am glad that I read this sequel but sadly I have been left rather disappointed and honestly, I feel this book was not needed. I highly recommend The Island but think you could skip this one, as you won’t be missing out on much.

My Rating