Meet the Author by Sally McDonald
Victoria Hislop had just escaped a prison island as a storm brewed when P.S caught up with her at the Greek retreat she shares with her husband, broadcaster and Private Eye editor lan.
Her visit to Anafi Island, which once held political prisoners, was part of ongoing research which may or may not, she says, make it into a he tenth novel, The Wine-Dark Sea – its title a respectful nod to the ancient Greek poet Homer.
Inspired by the Greek Civil War which broke out between monarchist and communist factions after the Second World War, a brutal conflict in which many thousands were taken prisoner, in some cases their children with them. Others were orphaned or left to Send for themselves, and there were those institutions with some sent for adoption overseas, never to see their families again.
Multi-award-winning mother of two Victoria – whose Greece-set debut The Island won Newcomer Of The Year at the British Book Awards in 2007 – is recovering from her choppy voyage when we speak.
“The Greek Civil war is where the story really begins, 1946 to 1949,” she says. “Children were not just swept up in it, in a way they were used as political tools and for propaganda purposes by either side
“And they were the really defenceless ones. If vou were a baby and you were taken into an orphanage, which was common at that time, you would likely never really know what had happened to you because there was such chaos.”
She explains: “Nowadays everyone has an identity card but back then there was a lot of illiteracy.
“Many people couldn’t read at all, so it wouldn’t have been diffcult to change a child’s name.
“One of the things that really hooked me as a novelist was the approximate balance of the numbers of children that were taken over into communist countries and those who were, in a sense, held in Greece away from their parents by Queen Frederica, a very controversial figure.”
An estimated 30,000 children were held by factions on each side of the conflict, she says, adding; “They equally deserve to be written about.”
Two of Victoria’s characters are separated from their parents -one removed from the country by communists, the other kept in a state children’s home. Fate plays a major hand in their journeys into adulthood.
And, by a strange coincidence, the author discovered both her grandfathers a commonality with the book’s plot. Her paternal grandfather was editor of Hansard, the official record of proceedings in the UK parliament, which discussed the missing Greek children.
“It details a debate that went on in the House of Commons about the fate of what they described as kidnapped children who had been taken over the border into the then communist countries of Albania, Romania and Yugoslavia” she explains And her British maternal grandfather’s life unwittingly mirrors the path of the young hero in tale who was adopted and rose to become a respected merchant navy captain.
The author believes that while many who were separated from their parents suffered abuse, there were others whose misfortune sparked opportunity, like the girls who, under early communism, were given equality and an education they would not have found in their homeland
Meticulously researched and profoundly emotive, The Wine Dark Sea is a captivating and compelling tale of human resilience, hope, and ultimately, happiness. “It is not a misery story,” Victoria says adding with a smile: “I don’t regret writing a happy outcome, because I think that can happen.”
