Cartes Postales by Victoria Hislop

                                      

Paperback: 438 pages                                                                                                 
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Headline 2016
Source: Charity Shop Purchase
First Sentence: They arrived dog-eared, always torn, often almost illegible, as though carried across Europe in a back pocket.
Favourite Quote: “Books are the essence of life. And there is nothing like a good story to pass the time.”
Review Quote: A discerning fly-on-the-wall view of the country, a heady mix of poetic licence and gravitas. . . Greece works its magic in Hislop's latest ode to the country, The Lady on Cartes Postales from Greece
Main Characters: Ellie(the reader of the postcards) Anthony(the writer of them)
Setting: Greece
My Opinion:  Victoria Hislop has with 'Cartes Postales from Greece' portrayed the Greeks love of life and their friendliness towards strangers. 

Unusually for a novel the author worked with a photographer, Alexandros Kakolyris, to illustrate the story.  Actually, it is more like a series of short stories set within Ellie's story which is built around a set of postcards and a diary/notebook.

The historical and modern mix of tales emphasises why the Greeks feel as they do for their beautiful but financially troubled country.

Although I enjoyed this, I do really prefer novels where the characters are more fully developed and Ellie certainly wasn't.

Recommended reading for fans of the author and anyone that loves Greece.



Précis Courtesy of Amazon:

GRETA THUNBERG was born in 2003. In August 2018, she decided not to go to school one day, starting a strike for the climate outside the Swedish Parliament. Her actions ended up sparking a global movement for action against the climate crisis, inspiring millions of pupils to go on strike for our planet, and earning her the prestigious Prix Liberté, as well as a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. Greta has Asperger's, and considers it a gift which has enabled her to see the climate crisis 'black and white'.

No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference is Greta's first book in English, collecting her speeches from climate rallies across Europe to audiences at the UN, the World Economic Forum, and the British Parliament. Her next book, Scenes from the Heart is a memoir, jointly written with her mother, the opera singer Malena Ernman, her sister Beata Ernman, and her father Svante Thunberg.Week after week, the postcards arrive, addressed to a name Ellie does not know, with no return address, each signed with an initial: A.

With their bright skies, blue seas and alluring images of Greece, these cartes postales brighten her life. After six months, to her disappointment, they cease. But the montage she has created on the wall of her flat has cast a spell. She must see this country for herself.

On the morning Ellie leaves for Athens, a notebook arrives. Its pages tell the story of a man's odyssey through Greece. Moving, surprising and sometimes dark, A's tale unfolds with the discovery not only of a culture but also of a desire to live life to the full once more.Week after week, the postcards arrive, addressed to a name Ellie does not know, with no return address, each signed with an initial: A.

With their bright skies, blue seas and alluring images of Greece, these cartes postales brighten her life. After six months, to her disappointment, they cease. But the montage she has created on the wall of her flat has cast a spell. She must see this country for herself.

On the morning Ellie leaves for Athens, a notebook arrives. Its pages tell the story of a man's odyssey through Greece. Moving, surprising and sometimes dark, A's tale unfolds with the discovery not only of a culture but also of a desire to live life to the full once more.

Week after week, the postcards arrive, addressed to someone Ellie does not know, each signed with an initial: A.

These alluring cartes postales of Greece brighten her life and cast a spell on her. She decides she must see this country for herself.

On the morning Ellie leaves for Athens, a notebook arrives. Its pages tell the story of a man's odyssey through Greece. Moving, surprising and sometimes dark, A's tale unfolds with the discovery not only of a culture, but also of a desire to live life to the full once more.

Author Profile:
                                                
 Photograph © Bill Waters

Victoria Hislop read English at Oxford, and worked in publishing, PR and as a journalist before becoming a novelist. She is married with two children.

Her first novel, The Island, held the number one slot in the Sunday Times paperback charts for eight consecutive weeks and has sold over two million copies worldwide. Victoria was the Newcomer of the Year at the Galaxy British Book Awards 2007 and won the Richard & Judy Summer Read competition.Victoria acted as script consultant on the 26-part adaptation of The Island in Greece, which achieved record ratings for Greek television.

Her second novel, The Return, set against the tempestuous backdrop of the Spanish Civil war was also a Number One bestseller. She returned to Greece for her third novel, The Thread, taking as her backdrop the troubled history of the city of Thessaloniki in a story that spans almost a century, beginning with the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917. Her short story collection, The Last Dance and other Stories, was widely acclaimed.

In 2014, she published The Sunrise, a turbulent family saga set in Cyprus after the Turkish invasion of 1974 which would leave the glamorous resort town of Famagusta a ruin ringed by barbed wire for decades to come.

Her most recent novel, Those Who Are Loved, was published in May 2019

Her books have been translated into more than 30 languages

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites.

Amazon Author Page     Goodreads Author Page    Victoria Hislop Official Author Website