It's the late 60s and Helena is going on holiday to Athens to visit her mother's parents. Grandparents she has never met before. Her Grandmother is lovely, but her Grandfather is a stern military man.
As she returns there for her annual holiday she learns more about her family and her dislike of her Grandfather and her Uncle Arsenis grows. When her Grandfather dies and she visits her Grandmother, both are much more relaxed.
Roll forward many years and Helena falls in love with another student and goes on dig on Nisos. She loves Nick and doesn't hesitate when he asks to put something in her bag for his friend and landlord when they return to London. During the next year, she finds out that she has finally inherited her Grandparents flat in Athens and flies out to start sorting out the contents. She meets lots of new friends, including Haris and Anna who are antique dealers. Nick decides to come to the apartment before she goes to see him on that years dig. She is horrified when they bump into her horrible Uncle Arsenis and Nick bonds with him instantly.
Later, at the dig they have a massive row and split up on the last day. She realises that he is not the man that she thought and is completely motivated by money.
Returning to the Athens apartment she discovers evidence that could incriminate a lot of people and decides to push on with her discovery.
This is a typical Victoria Hislop book. A good story set against a backdrop of events happening at time. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

i am a fan on this author so when i saw this i just had to read it.
i just get lost in her books, her descriptions of greece make me want ti pack up and go there, the story just draws you in and i didn’t want to put it down.
the perfect holiday read or just a perfect read to lose yourself in

Thank you for this ARC. A very enjoyable book for me. I loved all the facts about everything Greek from artefacts to the political events. Victoria Hislop certainly does a lot of research before weaving it into a story. One of my favourites from her.

I’ve been a massive fan of Victoria Hislop’s books since reading The Island back in 2006. So when I was offered an ARC of her latest book I jumped at the chance. This book started off for me as a great read and I was really looking forward to becoming immersed in the story. Unfortunately as the story progressed I found it became a tad boring and nothing exciting seemed to happen. There is a lot of talk about greek architecture and truthfully these parts didn’t keep my interest and went over my head at times. I found it difficult to bond with any of the characters and found Helena to be quite naive at times. However on the plus side the descriptions of Greece were as always described wonderfully by Hislop and these parts of the book I loved. As I’m reading I can literally picture being in Athens sitting drinking coffee at one of the Tavernas or eating a Greek meal. I know lots of people will love this book but sadly it just fell a bit flat for me ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this book.
The story is told through Helena in two timelines, as a child spending summers with her grandparents in Athens and in adult life following the death of her mother.
Set in Greece and England. The settings are very well described. You get to read lots about Greek history and antique dealings. There’s romance and betrayal too.
It’s written with great knowledge, a strong plot and great characters.
I definitely recommend. I couldn’t put it down.
Thanks to #NetGallery @Headline for an arc of #TheFigurine in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own.
Book publishes 28th September 2023.

This is the first novel I have read by this author, and it really gripped my attention!
The beginning was slow to build up, but was careful in all details and took time to introduce the characters.
Helena McCloud goes to Greece to see her grandparents for a holiday. Her mother has been estranged from her father for many years, for reasons that become clearer as the story progresses. Mary McCloud will not return to Greece until her father is dead. Helena learns that her grandfather held a position of power during the war, his cruelty affected so many families , and her grandmother appears frightened of him. Grandfather is not kind, harsh in his treatment of her, and he actually strikes her with a stick when she makes errors with her language skills. After Grandfather dies, there is a great sea change, her Grandmother is not in mourning clothes, seems brighter in spirits and photographs of both her mother and her late brother are now on display. Mary decides to return to Greece for a long delayed family reunion with her husband, Hamish and Helena.
Several years later, Helena is living in her late grandparents apartment and is meeting young people and is slowly becoming aware of the politics that have recently caused great change to the country. Her family history is part of these troubles, and grandfather had a shady past both with his Army career and the antiquities trade.
After joining an archeological dig, Helena becomes fascinated with the history of her ancestors and is greatly disturbed by such sites being looted and treasures being smuggled out of the country. Helena realises that she must make reparations for the harm her family has done, this may expose family secrets but a grave wrong must be put right.
I found this to be a fascinating read, full of historical and political facts. I remember this time well, I had friends who had married RAF personnel and were based in Akrotri, and the fear that Britain may be forced to enter into a war, turned the novelty about living abroad into fears about their safety.
The excitement about finding hidden treasures was portrayed really well, not just for fame and fortune, but understanding skills and the life of long ago times. Not the normal happy ever after read, but a book filled with acceptance of faults and failings and their impact upon both people and their culture.
My thanks to Netgalley and Headline Publishers for my digital advance copy, freely given in exchange for my honest review. A five star read. I shall certainly try other novels from this author. I will leave reviews to Goodreads and Amazon UK.

My first introduction to Victoria Hislop was The Island, which still remains in my top 5 books of all time. As with her other books, this book was extremely well researched and I learnt a lot about Greece under the control of the Colonels and about Greek artefacts etc, both of which I found very interesting and I did my own research too. Having visited Athens myself, I felt like I was there with Helena, particularly looking at the Parthenon and walking the streets. I enjoyed reading about Helena when she was a child the most and although this book was a slow burner and quite long, it built to a good ending. This would make a great holiday read, especially if you are anywhere in Greece, it certainly made me want to go away just reading it! Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for letting me read and review this book.

I loved this! Absolutely raced through it and although I had an inkling was very happy with the ending. One of my books of the year

Hislop clearly loves Greece and knows her recent and ancient history. I found the first part of the novel a little stretched out but it did set the scene. The final two thirds were truly excellent.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as her other books and found it just a little political and slow. I usually enjoy Victoria's books alot, but, this one didn't hit the spot. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

This book was truly superb it its breath of vision in the depth of extensive research that the author made before putting pen to paper. I have never read a Victoria Hislop book before and I only chose this one after a long conversation during a car journey with a friend who was very impressed with her previous books. My only visit to Greece was a holiday trip to Crete many years ago but even if I never visit the country again it is always interesting to read about its history which is considerably .explained in this title. My only criticism is that I felt that the book was a bit too long but as it covered a lot of time going from the main characters fascinating childhood visits to Athens up to her later post university ones perhaps that was justified.
Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for the advance copy of this book .

The Figurine starts in 1968 as eight year old Helena McCloud travels alone to Athens to spend the school summer holidays with her maternal grandparents. who she's not met before. Her Greek mother, Mary, and Scottish father, Hamish, have not come with her as Mary has been estranged from her parents for many years.

Helena’s grandparents live in a very well-to-do area and have a flat decorated with grand furniture and art. Her grandmother, Eleni Papagiannis is a kindly woman but her grandfather, Stamatis, is a General in the army and has a cruel streak to him. The maid, Dino, takes a shine to Helena and they develop a good friendship. Helena visits a few more times in the summer and enjoys her time with her grandmother and Dino but discovers more about her grandfather and his evil control over others. She also meets her grandfather's nephew, Arsenis, who takes Helena on day trips occasionally. He does not behave well towards her and she takes an intense dislike to him and tries to avoid him when she can despite being her uncle. After a few years she is unable to visit too as Greece is in civil war and it is too dangerous to go. It is interesting to learn more about the political situation in Greece in the 60s and 70s but this book did feel too long at times.

The plot moves to 1980 and Helena is now a young chemistry student at Oxford who takes the chance to return to Greece as a boy she has met is volunteering as an archaeological dig there and persuades her to join him. The plot speeds up in the last half as there is some dastardly business going on with ancients items being illegally removed from the dig.

It was a compelling read in many respects as I wanted to find out what happened to Helena but I wasn’t that invested in her or any of the characters really. Towards the end several things happened that were rather too convenient plot devices to solve the mystery of the illegal digs and uncover the perpetrators involved. One was a was a ‘chance’ encounter with two elderly sisters, one blind, who seemed to have a houseful of relics from digs but this was never really followed up other than them telling Helena of the people who came to dig illegally once the teams had left the dig site.

A decent read but long and not as enjoyable as the author's previous books.

With thanks to NetGalley and Headline for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel pre-publication. I’ve enjoyed several books by the author previously and looked forward to reading this as someone who has an interest in Greek history and archaeology.
The early chapters felt ploddingly slow but persistence in reading did bring some improvement.
There is some insight into Greek political history through the protagonist’s visits to her maternal grandparents, as well as the contribution to the debate of theft of ancient artefacts and organised crime. That contribution to the ongoing debate is welcome, however, as a novel, this was less enjoyable than other works by the author, with some predictable plot and less engaging characterisation. Disappointed, really.

Initially I found this story rather slow, Helene staying in Athens with maternal grandparents on annual visits. As I read on further, I realised that actually a lot of background information had been included in these early chapters and in fact had set the scene for the rest of the book.
I enjoyed this visit to Greece and learnt a lot about the politics and stripping of the ancient treasures of that country.
Maybe it did not enthral me as much as her previous novels, but it was still a very good read.

What a wonderful read. I love Greece and have visited a number of the places mentioned and the vividly descriptive writing took me right back to my visits there. But more importantly it raised the issue of, not just of historical looting of Greece’s cultural relics but the ongoing problem. Starting in 1968 when 8 year old Helena McCloud travels to meet her grandparents in Athens and follows Helena for around 20 years. It also covers the period when a group of right-wing colonels seized power and established the Regime of the Colonels. A terrible period during which civil liberties were heavily controlled and many Greek imprisoned. The author did an excellent job of including a lot of historical facts amongst the fictional story.

Briefly, Helena’s mother left home due to her hate for her father and his politics and married Hamish McCloud vowing never to return to return to Greece. Helena visits her grandparents a number of time but is scared of her grandfather who doesn’t treat her well. As an adult Helena goes to Oxford university to read chemistry but after meeting the charming Nick Hayes-Jones agrees to go to Greece to meet him working on an archeological dig.

Although aware of the historical looting and the ongoing problems I was unaware at just how valuable some of these items are, despite often serious damage. Helena’s desire to catch the looters she comes across, whilst also wanting to right some of wrongs perpetrated by her grandfather, were admirable. The characterisations were great. I hated those you need to hate and loved those who should be loved, aside from the main characters I had a soft spot for Charles. A fabulous historical novel, an enthralling storyline and some shocking moments - a brilliant book.

I have loved the previous novels written by this author, and was so looking forward to reading this, her latest book, but it just did not hit the spot for me sadly. I have read to 37%, and I am reluctant to pick it up again.
The story is slow and disjointed, jumping forward several years at a time in Helena’s life. The narrative feels superficial somehow, with no discernible depth to it. I got no sense of the main character of Helena surprisingly, as usually this author presents very strongly rounded characters in her books. Up to this point in the book, nothing much has happened, but there are beautiful, evocative descriptions of the country of Greece. The heavy overlay of the political history of Greece I found a little indigestible.
Unfortunately I have to leave this book now, as there is still so much of it to read, and it is a very long book. It is simply not sustaining my interest.
I will look out for the author’s next work, and truly hope that it returns to her usual top form.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.

I really wanted to enjoy this book as previous stories by this author have been amazing. Unfortunately this one felt a bit slow and stilted at times.

A tale of Greece under the colonels and the theft of Ancient Greek treasures. Corruption, love, death and betrayal this novel has it all. Victoria Hislop is a master storyteller

I couldn't get into this story but I gave it to my mother in law and she enjoyed reading it. She said she liked the story being about organised crime and bits of pottery which seems a diverse mix to me.

The Figurine by Victoria Hislop

Thank you Headline Books and Netgalley for sending me this advance copy.

I read this wonderful book while on holiday on the beautiful island of Kefalonia, and what a treat it was!

I loved the different aspects of the book. Helena’s visits as a child to her grandparents in Athens, the death of her beloved mother, the delve into Greek politics, the archeology, the romance, the artefacts and Greek art, the small island visits, and the crime! This book had it all!

I have enjoyed several of Victorias books and this is no exception. It’s a great holiday read but it’s also much more than that and I’m so happy to have been given the opportunity to read it early.

I've got mixed feelings about this book. I loved The island and was expecting to really enjoy The Figurine in the same way. But it didn't quite draw me in so completely. It was good to understand more about greek history, the culture, old and new, and I'd never really thought a lot about what happened to all the lost treasures, over the decades, that were so abundant. I learnt a lot but for me, the story was a bit too predictable and occasionally a bit slow. Having said that, it would be a good holiday read, especially if you were visiting a Greek Island!