Cranbrook Literature Festival

Victoria Hislop will be in conversation in Cranbrook talking about her latest novel The Wine-Dark Sea, published at the end of September. The book explores the turbulence of the post-war era in Greece in this riveting new novel that will delight those fans who cherish The Island and The Figurine. During three years of brutal civil war in Greece, thousands of children were caught in the chaos that swept across the country. Huge numbers were orphaned; many found themselves imprisoned alongside their mothers and others were left to fend for themselves. The Wine-Dark Sea follows the travails of a mother, searching for both a daughter who has been kidnapped and taken behind the Iron Curtain and a boy who, unbeknown to her, has been sold into adoption.

Inspired by a visit to Spinalonga, the abandoned Greek leprosy colony, Victoria Hislop wrote The Island in 2005. It became an international bestseller, has sold more than 6 million copies. Her affection for the Mediterranean then took her to Spain, and in the number one bestseller The Return, she wrote about the painful secrets of its civil war. In The Thread, Victoria returned to Greece to tell the turbulent tale of Thessaloniki and its people across the twentieth century. Her fourth novel, The Sunrise, about the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the enduring ghost town of Famagusta, was a Sunday Times number one bestseller as was Cartes Postales. Victoria’s lockdown novel, One August Night, returned to Crete in the long-anticipated sequel to The Island. It spent twelve weeks in the Top 10 hardback fiction charts. This was followed by The Figurine, which topped the UK TCM as the biggest-selling single edition in the country for two consecutive weeks in 2024. Her books have been translated into forty languages and Victoria was executive producer on the adaptations of three of her novels for Greek television. Victoria divides her time between England and Greece.

• Friday 23 October 2026
• 19:30 20:30

• Vestry Hall Stone Street Cranbrook, England (map)

For tickets, visit the festival website