It’s just a rock. Honestly, if you saw Spinalonga from the Cretan coast without knowing its history, you might just think it’s another picturesque ruin dotting the Mediterranean. But for millions of readers, that tiny islet is the setting of The Island novel Victoria Hislop turned into a global phenomenon. It’s weird how a book about a leper colony managed to become a beach read, but that’s exactly what happened back in 2005.
People still flock to Plaka and Elounda because of this story. They want to see the "gate" where the sick were dropped off. They want to feel that specific brand of Cretan sun that Hislop described so vividly.
What actually makes The Island novel Victoria Hislop so different?
Most historical fiction feels like a dry history lesson wrapped in a thin layer of romance. This one felt like a punch to the gut. It wasn’t just about the disease; it was about the stigma.
Hislop took a real place—a fortress that served as a leper colony from 1903 to 1957—and populated it with the Petrakis family. You’ve got Alexis Fielding, the modern-day protagonist, digging into her mother’s secretive past. Then you’ve got Eleni, the mother who was sent away. The structure is a bit sprawling, but it works because the stakes are literally life and death.
The island wasn't just a prison. That’s the thing most people get wrong.
Actually, the residents of Spinalonga built a functioning society. They had a cinema. They had cafes. They fell in love and, in some cases, had children who weren't even sick. Hislop didn't invent the grit of the place; she just gave it a heartbeat. Before the book, Spinalonga was a bit of a "dark secret" in Greek history. After? It became a pilgrimage site.
The stigma of Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease)
We talk about "leper" as an insult now, which is pretty messed up when you think about the reality. In the novel, when Eleni is diagnosed, her life is essentially over in the eyes of the village.
- Medical reality: Leprosy is caused by Mycobacterium leprae.
- The cure: Dapsone and later multi-drug therapy changed everything in the 1940s and 50s.
- The tragedy: People stayed on Spinalonga long after they were "cured" because the world outside wouldn't take them back.
Hislop captures that isolation perfectly. It’s not just the physical distance of the water; it’s the psychological wall between the "clean" and the "unclean."
Why the setting of Spinalonga matters more than the plot
If you’ve ever been to Eastern Crete, you know the wind. It’s called the Meltemi. It whistles through the stones of the old Venetian fortifications.
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The Island novel Victoria Hislop wrote wouldn’t work anywhere else. The proximity is the torture. The residents of Spinalonga could literally see their families across the water in Plaka. They could see the lights of the tavernas. They could hear the church bells.
Being exiled to a desert is one thing. Being exiled to a rock 500 meters from your front door is a different kind of cruelty.
Hislop spent a lot of time in the area before writing. She didn't just look at maps. She talked to locals who remembered the boats going back and forth. That’s why the book feels so lived-in. When she describes the smell of the sea mixed with the antiseptic of the tiny hospital, you believe her.
Is the Petrakis family real?
Nope.
Alexis, Sofia, Anna, and Maria are fictional. But their experiences are stitched together from real accounts. There were sisters separated by the diagnosis. There were husbands who rowed out to the island at night just to catch a glimpse of their wives.
The drama—the affairs, the murders, the betrayals—is what makes it a "novel," but the backdrop is 100% anchored in the archives of the Lasithi prefecture.
The 2010 TV adaptation and the "Island" effect
In Greece, the book was adapted into a massive TV series called To Nisi. It was, at the time, the most expensive production in Greek television history.
It changed the game.
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Suddenly, the ruins on the island were being stabilized because thousands of tourists were trampling over them every day. The local economy in Plaka, which used to be a sleepy fishing village, exploded. You can’t walk ten feet in that town now without seeing a copy of the book in a gift shop window.
Is it "over-commercialized" now? Maybe a little. But the book did something important: it forced a conversation about how we treat the sick. It took a group of people who were forgotten and made them heroes.
The technical side of Hislop’s success
Let’s talk about why this book actually sold. It wasn't just luck.
Hislop hit a specific "sweet spot" in the mid-2000s market. Readers were tired of "chick lit" and wanted something with more weight, but they didn't necessarily want a 900-page academic tome.
- Dual Timeline: The 2001/1939 split kept the pacing fast.
- Sensory Detail: She leans hard into the "Mediterranean Gothic" vibe.
- The "Forbidden" Element: Leprosy is a visceral, terrifying subject that people are secretly fascinated by.
It’s a masterclass in building a world that feels both exotic and terrifyingly familiar. We’ve all felt excluded. We’ve all had family secrets. Hislop just turned the volume up to eleven.
Misconceptions about Spinalonga and the Novel
People often go to Crete thinking the island was a place of misery and death alone.
It wasn't.
Actually, Spinalonga had electricity before many villages on the mainland. They had a vibrant cultural life. They had a "Governor" who fought for their rights.
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The novel touches on this, but the "tourist version" of the story often skips the part where the lepers were incredibly resilient and politically active. They weren't just victims waiting to die; they were citizens demanding better conditions.
If you read the book closely, you see those flashes of rebellion. That's the real "Island" novel Victoria Hislop wanted to tell—a story of agency, not just suffering.
How to experience the world of The Island today
If you're planning to dive back into the book or visit the site, here is how to get the most out of it without falling into the basic tourist traps.
Don't just take the big ferry from Agios Nikolaos. It’s crowded and impersonal. Instead, drive to the tiny village of Plaka. Hire one of the small wooden fishing boats (kaikis) to take you across. It’s a ten-minute trip. This is the route the characters in the book took. It’s quiet. You can hear the water lapping against the hull. It makes the transition to the island feel much more heavy and real.
Visit the Spinalonga museum inside the fortress. Many people just walk the perimeter of the island for the views. Go into the restored houses. Look at the mirrors that were intentionally dulled so the patients didn't have to see their own reflections. Look at the communal ovens. It puts the Petrakis family's struggle into a physical context that no Kindle screen can replicate.
Read Hislop’s follow-up. A lot of fans don't realize she wrote One August Night in 2020. It picks up exactly where The Island ends—on the night the colony was closed in 1957. It deals with the aftermath of "coming home" and proves that the end of a disease isn't the end of the trauma.
Check out the real history by Maurice Born. If you want the academic side, look for the work of Maurice Born, the ethnologist who spent years documenting the lives of the last survivors. His work provided much of the factual scaffolding for what Hislop eventually turned into fiction.
Watch the Greek series with subtitles. Even if you've read the book three times, the Greek production (directed by Thodoris Papadoulakis) captures the Cretan landscape in a way that is hauntingly beautiful. The soundtrack alone will give you chills.
The Island novel Victoria Hislop gave the world isn't just a story about a disease; it's a reminder that even when people are discarded by society, they still find a way to build a home. Whether you're a fan of historical fiction or just someone looking for a deep, emotional journey, this story remains the gold standard for how to bring a forgotten corner of history back to life.