I really enjoyed this book and always like books from this author. A good enjoyable read! Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to read this title in exchange for a review.

Interesting story of family whose predessessors in Greece eventually had driven young child Helena's mother to disengage with her militaristic fascist father and escape to married life in England. But her husband and mother insist the young girl art least spend a few weeks each summer. She learns Greek, befriends some household servants, and meets her creepy quasi-cousin or 'uncle' who takes her off at young age to archaeological museums ogling bare women; we churn through years and other local friendships .. but strangely a big hiccup upturns everything and her irrational upstanding grandfather and creepy cousin seem to have been looting and illegally plundering.
For me. It all read a bit distanced.. recounting events .. a bit contrived too .. the clichés abt families and military attitudes .. I.e. right wingers etc .. I didn't quite believe the friendly servant girl earlier or later the successful investigation finding the crime/looting ... but, all a bit worthy, a bit dry???

It’s a rare occurrence for me to abandon a book, but I almost gave up on ‘The Figurine’ by Victoria Hislop. I persevered through the glacial pacing of the first half and at 55% on my Kindle the story kickstarts. A story about archaeological mysteries is melded with dark truths about a family’s wartime history.
Helena McCloud is half-Greek and from the age of eight is sent every summer to Athens to spend time with her maternal grandparents in their wealthy apartment. Her mother Mary never accompanies her and doesn’t explain why. Helena sees much she doesn’t understand. When as an adult she returns to Athens, she becomes involved in uncovering a criminal gang exploiting precious Greek statues and treasures. Now her childhood recollections of those long-ago visits begin to make sense.
I struggled to connect with this story for a long time and by the end I wished it had been told in a different order and was a third shorter. Lacking a close personal perspective – admittedly, telling a story through the eyes of a child has to be one of the biggest challenges for an author – it was at times like reading at distance through binoculars.
The figurine of the title is the turning point in the story, bringing with her admiration, awe and suspicion. Helena, head over heels in love with fellow student Nick, is at first too enamoured to acknowledge what is going on around her. Gradually the story focusses on the theft of archaeological antiquities in Greece, predominantly at digs on isolated, little-populated islands, and run by criminal gangs in Athens. Helena assumes that her grandfather, a figure of imposing military force, benefitted in trade from stolen antiquities. Along with an intrepid brother and sister who are antique specialists, and a new group of Athenian friends, she digs deeper into her painful family past. This is when the story begins to buzz.
Not Hislop’s best, which for me remains ‘The Island.’ The small figurine is the large heart of the story. ‘With her head tilted towards the heavens, the figurine seems proud. With her arms folded, she seems relaxed. With her diminutive ears, she seems to listen. With her pale eyes, she seems to be aware of the crowd.’
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

📚Book Review 📚

Title : The Figure
Author : Victoria Hislop
Rate : 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thanks to @netgalley for an ARC copy of this book. This was published on the 28th September 2023.

This book shines a light on the questionable acquisition of cultural treasures and the price people and countries will pay to cling to them.

When Helena inherits her grandmother’s apartment in Athens, she reminisces about her summers spent there as a child, when Greece was under a brutal military dictatorship.

Her grandfather was a general in the regime and wasn’t a nice man. Helena discovers an array of valuable objects and antiquities in her grandmother’s apartment. She uncovers how much happened under the table and how people paid for things to go their way.

When I started listening to this, I wasn’t sure where it was going.
I enjoyed the history of Greece and also the family element that Helena had at home.

This is an emotional book at times and joyous at other moments.
Helena’s determination to correct the wrong doings that her grandfather did was admirable.
The way her friendships in Athens and the UK became her extended family and helped her bring someone who hurt not only her but mutual friends to justice.

It was a very enjoyable book but I’m glad I got the audiobook version.

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The Figurine
Victoria Hislop

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Well, I've had this book on my tbr for about a year, if not more, as I was so intimidated by the sheer size of it.
At over 500 pages and 17 hours of audio book, it just really scared me!
Also, being my least favourite genre (or so I thought), I just wasn't sure I wanted to prioritise it yet.
I was so ashamed at it still being around, that I committed to getting it done - and oh how stupid I've been!

This is a chonky read, but honestly, I am so, so pleased that I've finally made time to read this as it's got to be one of my favourite books this year!!

We follow Helena's journey through life from around the age of 6 right up to and beyond leaving university.

I think starting where we did really allowed us to connect with Helena and all of her experiences through her childhood visits to her grandparents which paved the way for her feelings and memories - both good and bad - of a changing Greece.

There was just so, so much in this book from the history of Greece under a dictatorship, the importance of architecture and archeological finds, family dynamics, romantic relationships, coping with grief and loss and finding your way in life - plus so much more I've probably missed.

Helena was such a great character to explore. We grow with her throughout the book and feel every emotion with her through each encounter.
I loved her development through the years and her positive attitude, even when things weren't going well.
I was especially enamoured with her determination to do the right thing and be the better person in a bid to help others.

Our journeys to Greece uncover a wealth of knowledge both in its history and culture and the glorious descriptions transport us to the beauty of its landscape and heritage.

There were a lot of tough topics presented here but each was dealt with sensitively.
The mix of genres also worked perfectly within the whole story and the twists and turns kept me engrossed throughout.

I really don't think my review can do this book justice - I enjoyed every second of it and will definitely miss Helena and all her friends.

This is the first book that I've read by this author - but I'll definitely be making some more time to add to my reading list in the future.
A beautiful story which was beautifully written.



💕Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my ARC copy - this is my honest review 💕

I really enjoyed the first half of this book. The setting in Greece is brilliantly done and really evokes the history of the time. The complex family relationship is well written and works well.
However I found the grandfather to be one dimensional and the second half of the book, based on the figurine to be both rushed at times and tedious. Helena's time in Athens had me anxious about a confrontation that never came and the resolution and Helena's relationship seemed rushed and not in keeping with the careful presentation of relationships in the first half of the book.

I really enjoyed this book especially the descriptions of Greece and its islands, this author really brings those places to life. I didn’t know anything of its history so leant a little of that in the book. We follow Helena from her first visit to her grandparents when she is about 8 to when she returns years later as an adult and finds the country much changed and also sees it from the different perspective of others who have always lived there compared to what she has seen in her holidays as a child.

dont no where to start with this one it as everthing in it detail saddness anger love frustration and revenge and a dam good story line you get so involved with that you cant read fast enough to get to the end a brill to read

A wonderful storyteller that transported me to Greece!
Helena spends every summer with her Grandparents in Athens and quickly learns about her grandfather's military past. On clearing out their flat when they have both died, she discovers some grim and criminal facts about him and sets out to seek justice
Well researched book about Greece's history, archaeology, digs and the theft from these sites

In 1968, Helena is eight years old when she travels alone to Greece for the first time to spend a holiday with her maternal grandparents and whilst she adores her grandmother, she finds her grandfather a rather cold and distant figure. Gradually over the time we spend with Helena, both as a child, and later as an adult, we understand more about her grandfather and of the politics which influenced him. We also learn more about the rift between Helena’s mother and her grandparents which adds another interesting dimension to this family drama.

There’s a definite sense of time and place which the author describes so vividly that it feels scarily realistic especially when the volatility of civil unrest in the nineteen seventies curtails Helena's visits to Greece. The author explains the history of the time well and allowed a picture to emerge of a country at war with itself. For me the story really began when Helena becomes an adult and is able to discover more about her Greek heritage. I found the archaeological aspect of the story interesting, especially in the way that antiquities had once been looted for personal gain. Helena learns some unhappy truths about her family and has to come to terms with the sins of the past.

As always this author delivers a good story, The Figurine is a fascinating glimpse into a forgotten time in history. It’s a great holiday read made even better if you read it on a warm, and beautiful, Greek island.

The story follows main character Helena who inherits her grandparents Athen’s apartment. Being there as an adult she reflects on her time spent there as a child and begins to understand things she saw and witnessed as a child that she didn’t understand the meaning of then.

Helena spends time in both London and in Greece and as always the settings play such a huge part in Victoria’s novels. The are depicted so clearly and with vivid imagery in this book it’s so easy to imagine yourself there in the Greek sun. The Figurine also has very touching ties to the relationship between Helena and her mother. Some of the history which Helena uncovers is dark and steeped in brutal military history.

I listened to this on audiobook which is so worth it with Victoria’s books because the accents come through and the words in Greek language are spoken in Greek which to someone who doesn’t speak the language is a much more immersive experience.

If you’ve not read anything by this author, other books I’d recommend would be The Island and The Sunrise both of which are very moving reads.

Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this title.

A great story full of historical and archeological facts that were so well woven into the story. Characters and scenery were described so vividly that I could feel that I was there in Greece with them all. This brought back my memories of my vacations in the Greek Islands and my stay in Athens. although the criminals were easy to see very early on the story centred more on how they planned to capture them all. Retribution planned for all it would be a spoiler to tell you all so read this fascinating book and enjoy.

I was so pleased when I was accepted to read and review this book by Victoria Hislop and it did not disappoint. It brought Athens to life and made me want to explore all the places in the book.
I would thoroughly recommend.

This isn't my kind of book but I fancied a change and wanted to give this book a chance.

Its well written and a pleasant read.

I am a huge fan of Victoria Hislop’s earliest books so was very eager to receive a copy of this from Net Galley!

I have a great deal of respect for the level of research and time that must go into novels like this and found the descriptions and explanations of Ancient Greek history fascinating. I enjoyed that the book involved numerous jumps in time, it made it feel as though I could relate to Helena more and made me more invested in her story. I found the other characters enjoyable and liked that they felt fleshed-out with real personalities.

One complaint I do have about this book is that at some points I felt the narration was slowed down too much by some descriptions and explanations. Though I found many of these interesting, some felt as though they were there to increase the word count. The only other is that the ending felt almost rushed with all of the loose ends tied up within a short epilogue.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and look forward to finding more of Victoria Hislop’s novels.

I’ve never actually visited Greece, but I feel I have, after reading this! It’s a fascinating story, often going into some detail about Ancient Greek culture and artefacts - very interesting. I enjoyed it very much.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this book for review.

This is definitely a hefty book, which takes some time to get going. I did wonder quite where the storyline was heading during the beginning and Helena’s childhood visits to Greece. All did become clear though. As you expect from Victoria Hislop, this is an extremely well researched book, packed full of history, both ancient and modern. I certainly felt that I learnt something about modern Greek history that I didn’t know before. The second half of the story definitely steps up in pace and ultimately the book does make you feel that ancient relics ought to be preserved in the country of their provenance.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for a review.

Thank you NetGalley for the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly the number of pages was overwhelming at first so I put off reading this for a while but it was well worth it. I loved Helena, the main character, and truly enjoyed reading about her life from childhood to adulthood. I also loved her parents, Mary and Hamish, their relationship together and with Helena, it was beautiful. Sally and Charles are characters I really warmed to, as well as Dina and Eleni. And later on, Anna, Haris, and Mihalis.

The story was captivating, and the pace was perfect for the length of the book. Divided into 4 parts it was also nicely structured. I don’t really have anything bad to say about this, besides that Part 3 was my least favourite, as I felt that it stalled a little and was different from the rest of the book, but I get how it was important to the story.

Always interesting to read a novel about a country I know little about regarding the politics of the 20th Century. Plus also the archeology and artefacts that have been found and are still being found. I thought the story line was believable and cute, though the writing a little immature and drawn out, presuming the reader to be naive in certain matters.
An easy read, with romance, misdeeds and cruelty to add intrigue . I would recommend this to others as a casual read, not one of Victoria Hislop's strongest novels.

The Figurine by Victoria Hislop ⭐️⭐️⭐️

We first meet Helena as a young girl when she is sent to Athens to spend the summer with her estranged grandparents. Her grandfather is formidable and unfriendly but thanks to her loving grandmother and their maid she comes to love the summers spent in her mother’s native city.

As we follow Helena into adulthood she continues her passion for all things Greek and volunteers at an archeological site on one of the many islands but it’s not just the artifacts that she uncovers.

I enjoyed this slow paced and well researched read but found that the plot took slightly too long to develop to completely hold my interest. Hislop has always been one of my favourite historical fiction writers but as my tastes have changed I’m beginning to move away from these type of books so I think this was a case of ‘it’s not you, it’s me’