The family saga (family chronicle) is one of the genres of literature, in the works of which the life of several generations of a family is depicted, the fate of parents and children is compared.
This direction was formed in the middle of the XIX century. The most famous representatives of the family saga are such classic works as The Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy, The Artamonov Case by Maxim Gorky and others.
Also known are many modern authors creating novels in this genre. These include the British writer Victoria Hislop. At present, 6 novels and several short stories have been published under her name.
Biography
Victoria Hislop was born on June 8, 1959 in London. Hislop is the name of the husband of the writer, at birth she received the name Victoria Hamson.
She spent her childhood in Tonbridge, about 50 km from London. It was there that Victoria graduated from high school, after which she entered Saint Hilda College, one of the founding colleges of Oxford University. After graduating, Victoria Hislop began to teach English in her own educational institution.
At the moment, the writer is married to Ian Hislop - the publisher of the English satirical magazine Private Ey. It is known that spouses have two children.
Hislop debuted as an author of novels in 2002, when her first book, Not For Me, I am Russian, was published. After 3 years, the second work “Island” was published, which became a bestseller in the UK.
In addition to teaching and creating fiction, Victoria Hislop writes articles for various magazines.
Bibliography. "Isle"
In Russia, the novel was first published in 2015 by the ABC Publishing House and included in the Contemporary World Bestseller series.
Victoria Hislop’s book “The Island” tells the story of three generations of the same family and spans a century. The action takes place in Greece, on the island of Crete. It is near the local village of Plaka that Spinalonga is located - the so-called leper island, on which at the beginning of the 20th century there was a colony for people infected with this disease.
The main character is a 25-year-old girl named Alex Fielding, who, in an effort to learn more about the history of her kind, goes to Plaka.
Creating a novel, Victoria Hislop sought to make it as believable as possible, paying attention not only to the main plot, but also to the environment surrounding the characters. "Island" contains detailed descriptions of the life and traditions of the Greek island, as well as excerpts from the past that tell about life in the colony of Spinalonga.
"A thread"
Another popular book by Victoria Hislop is “Thread”, written in 2011 and published in Russia in 2015 by the same publishing house “ABC”.
As with Ostrov, the action takes place in Greece, this time in Thessaloniki. The novel also belongs to the genre of family chronicle.
This is a story that grandparents tell their grandson. We are talking about the First World War and its horrors, which were then experienced by young children. Like the whole world, at that time Greece was not going through the best period of its history: because of hostilities, many lost their homes, family members lost each other. In parallel with this, ethnic conflicts and an epidemic of dysentery took place.
The main characters are Katerina and Dmitry. Each of them had to overcome many trials, but, despite this, they managed to maintain their humanity.
The name of the novel was not chosen by chance, because it talks about connecting generations - hope, fidelity, fortitude.
"Sunrise"
The novel "Sunrise" became the fifth book written by Victoria Hislop. It was written in 2015, published in Russian in 2016.
The plot unfolds in Cyprus, in the city of Famagusta, belonging to the Turkish part of the island. Several families are in the center of events: the locals Aphroditi and Savvas, the owners of the luxurious Voskhod Hotel, as well as Greeks by the name of Georgiou and Turks Ezkan. They arrived in Famagusta, fleeing ethnic hatred. Having settled in houses located next door, Georgiou and Ezkan quickly became friends.
But soon Turkish soldiers invade the island. Chaos reigns everywhere, and most residents decide to leave their home. In Famagusta, only these three families remain. To survive in the new circumstances, they will have to find a common language and learn to get along with each other.
Readers' Opinion
Many fans of Victoria Hislop say that when they first saw one of the books of the writer, the first thought was that this was another love affair.
Hislop's works really can be mistaken at first sight for “typical books for women” - this is evidenced by covers decorated in pastel colors and original names. However, in spite of the fact that the love line is indeed present in the Hislop novels, it is not the main one. The works touch upon such serious topics as intergenerational relations, mutual assistance, tolerance, humanity and others.