Those Who Are Loved By Victoria Hislop Headline Review 30th May
Those Who Are Loved is set against the backdrop of the German occupation of Greece in World War II, the subsequent civil war and a military dictatorship, all of which left deep scars.
Athens 1941. After decades of political uncertainty, Greece is polarised between Right- and Left-wing views when the Germans invade. Fifteen-year-old Themis comes from a family divided by these political differences. The Nazi occupation deepens the fault-lines between those she loves just as it reduces Greece to destitution. She watches friends die in the ensuing famine and is moved to commit acts of resistance. In the civil war that follows the end of the occupation, Themis joins the Communist army, where she experiences the extremes of love and hatred and the paradoxes presented by a war in which Greek fights Greek.
Eventually imprisoned on the infamous islands of exile, Makronisos and then Trikeri, Themis encounters another prisoner whose life will entwine with her own in ways neither can foresee. And finds she must weigh her principles against her desire to escape and live. As she looks back on her life, Themis realises how tightly the personal and political can become entangled. While some wounds heal, others deepen.
This powerful new novel from Number One bestseller Victoria Hislop sheds light on the complexity and trauma of Greece’s past and weaves it into the epic tale of an ordinary woman compelled to live an extraordinary life.
My Review
Greece, a country many of us have visited on holidays, enjoyed its hot sunny days, the people and the culture, but what do we know of its history? Yes, we might know about the Greek myths and legends but what about its role in World War 2 and afterwards. Hislop’s novel, Those Who Are Loved took us back to those times and through the eyes and ears of her main character, Themis, she wove a story that was not only eye opening, but horrifying and extremely interesting.
From Themis’s life as a young girl to old age there was nothing she did not see, do or indeed suffer. Her fractured family, an absentee father, a mother who left them all behind, unable to cope with the stresses of life, the only constant in her life her Grandmother. What a woman she was, strong, resilient, reliable, the peacemaker, the person they all loved and respected more than anyone else. She looked after a family divided down the middle, politics forever a topic argued over the dinner table, and indeed the politics of Greek history was never faraway, a device cleverly used by Hislop to divide the family and showcase their characters.
Themis and brother Panos took the side of the opposition, the communists, Thanasis and Margarita, the government, the ruling power. Were any of them right, were their views the right ones for Greece, for the Greek people? It was a question Hislop never answered, instead she gave a measured and balanced view, used her characters to show the passion and ferociousness of the political divides.
If Those Who Are Loved had its basis in politics, it also clearly showed what the consequences of fighting for your political ideals would be. Hislop chose to highlight the women, their role, their passion and most of all their suffering. Whilst some women stayed at home, there were many, Themis included, who chose to fight on the frontline, to train as the men did, to be treated as equals, and it was here that Hislop truly excelled.
Hislop’s narrative was wonderfully stark and vivid and you could not help but be moved and indeed horrified by the atrocities inflicted on Themis and her fellow women, it certainly opened my eyes on periods of history I knew nothing about. Themis, herself was brave, courageous, resilient and some may say foolhardy. Her will and determination was made of iron but she wasn’t cold and distant, but full of love, of trying to do what she thought was the right thing for her family, even if that meant she compromised and suppressed some of her beliefs and actions.
For all its brutality and harshness, the core theme of Those Who Are Loved was one of love and hope, of forgiveness, each character had some redeeming feature, some lightness that you, and they could cling onto. The historical detail was well researched and brilliantly done, never taking over the narrative nor Hislops characters. It was storytelling at its best and I for one was captivated.
I would like to thank Headline for a copy of Those Who Are Loved to read and review and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting My Bookish Blogpsot to participate in the blogtour.
About the author
from Greece was a Sunday Times Number One bestseller and one of the Top Ten biggest selling paperbacks of 2017. Her novels have sold 10 million copies worldwide.
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