Victoria Hislop's Edited Novel: The Sunrise

P Harding: Another smash by Victoria Hislop

United Kingdom on Nov 17, 2023

Anthony Richard Watkiss: Good value/

United Kingdom on Nov 11, 2023

Elizabeth: As always this writer produces historical fiction is a very readable way

United Kingdom on Nov 01, 2023

Johann Mittelstorb: Sehr gutes Buch.

Germany on Aug 31, 2023

Stephenson HoltStephenson Holt: A beautifully contrived view of emotions and friendships, set in a complicated saga on a complicated island at a complicated moment in that island’s history.

Not the first of Hislop’s novels I’ve read and, as always, a sense of extremely accurately researched history is brought to life by interweaving a story through it. I happen to know, through talking to those still living on the island, that the author’s research was thorough on both the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot side and an unbalanced view given in this novel.

Through the relationships of husbands and wives, women and lovers, friends, supposed enemies, businessmen and their contracts, and the experiences of two supposedly opposing families, we experience maybe a part of what it must have been like to live through these turbulent times. The passions, needs and wants of all involved are delicately portrayed and the characters (all, major and minor) develop through the novel, sometimes surprising us in how attitudes can change when situations become pressurised and food becomes scarce and greed is rife. I suppose that in the back of every reader’s mind is, “What would I have done in those...

United Kingdom on Dec 17, 2019

good reader: Kudos for Ms. Victoria Hislop. This book, a contemporary historical fiction is written very well and with great detail and accuracy of factual information. The names of characters, their beliefs, the foods, their life styles are all very accurately portrayed. I know this because I was a part of one of the cultures she describes. I thought the story itself was very good although the underlying theme of civilians at the crossroads of war is always somewhat depressing. Hislop interweaves the political events and the war itself with the lives of the characters she creates. Besides being a story of war, it is also a story of how individuals cope with adversity whether it be created by politics or by those in whom we trust and love. In Hislop's book, a wife's betrayal of her husband meets with betrayal from her lover but everyday friendships and relationships with neighbors and the love and trust generated from these ordinary relationships wins. Hislop also writes very sensitively about the pain of loss of families who lose their sons in wars the young men participated in because they believed that they were fighting for a just cause. I enjoyed this book very much.

United States on Jun 13, 2016

patrick e bates: "The Sunrise" by Victoria Hislop

I became a major fan of Victoria Hislop after reading "The Island". In that novel, I thought the author handled a horrid historic event without being overly oppressive or depressing. As bad as the situation was in "The Island", the author produced a memorable and enjoyable novel.

With "The Sunrise", she had another horrible, historic event, but she did not write it with the same readability and/or enjoyability. Overall I would have to say that the reading was okay instead of enjoyable. It was not dry and tedious like a history book, but it was also not enjoyable reading. Every time the story began to be enjoyable, something happened to drag it back down to sadness or depressing.

Yes, I finished the novel and I'm glad that I did. In reviewing the novel, however, I'm stuck between my loyalty to Victoria Hislop's writing ability and the sad, depressing story of "The Sunrise". What should I say? My loyalty wants to give this novel at least a 4-star, but overall it was a sad, depressing story. If this had been some other author, I might have tossed it. Thus, I had no choice but to rate this novel a 3-star.

Yes, I'm going to...

United States on Feb 27, 2016

Amazon Customer: I find myself utterly absorbed by this author. I feel her character development is excellent. In this book she takes key modern history of Greece and puts a human face on it. I was drawn into the lives of her characters. The historical aspects seem well researched. I'm not familiar with this time period but I'm definitely inspired by her writing to do my own research and find out more about the conflict between Greece and Turkey. I enjoy her style of writing. It seems that with each of her books, I'm torn between wanting to turn the next page and feeling sad that I'll be one page closer to the end of the story. I don't want her books to end.

United States on Dec 30, 2015

Mrs: I have read all of Victoria Hislops books,and they are always very enjoyable. However, I found this one less enjoyable, as it turned out to be more of a history lesson in the conflict between Turkey and Cyprus, and the story line was rather disjointed. The author had certainly done her research on this period, as she has done in previous books. I would have preferred more story line, I felt that the story was a little disjointed, and characters that started off central to the story seem to disappear, and the explanation as to what had happened to them was left till a lot later in the story. However, I would still recommend this book, because it was still an enjoyable read.

United States on Oct 23, 2015

Jo Clausen: I like the historic backgrounds that Victoria Hislop puts her stories in. They give one an added perspective to some of the important historical events in our near past. She also adds to my knowledge of these events and gives them a vividness that makes history fun and interesting. There is always the problem of finding the right balance between historical facts and personal fiction. I find that Hislop usually finds a fine balance here, but sometimes her characters seem too good to be true. Apart from that, I am thrilled by The Sunrise, as well as by the other books I have read of her, With the historical background.

United States on Jul 31, 2015