The Island (Hislop novel)

The novel is set on the island of Spinalonga, off the coast of Crete, and on the village of Plaka which lies within swimming distance across the bay from it. The Island tells the story of Alexis Fielding, a 25-year-old on the cusp of a life-changing decision. Alexis knows little or nothing about her family's past and has always resented her mother for refusing to discuss it. She knows only that her mother, Sofia, grew up in Plaka, a small Cretan village, before moving to London.

Making her first visit to Crete to see the village where her mother was born, Alexis discovers that the village of Plaka faces the small, now deserted island of Spinalonga. Alexis is shocked and surprised to learn the deserted island was Greece's leper colony for much of the 20th century. It is here that Alexis meets an old friend of her mother's, Fotini. The older woman is prepared to tell her for the first time the whole tragic story of her family.

What Fotini tells Alexis is shocking and tragic, it is the story which Sofia has spent her life concealing: the story of Eleni, her grandmother, and of a family torn apart by tragedy, war and passion. Eleni has two children, called Maria and Anna with her husband Georgio. She discovers how intimately she is connected with the island and with the horror and pity of the leper colony which was once there, and learns too that the secrets of the past have the power to change the future.

Mega Channel Greece produced a 26-episode television series called To Nisi (The Island), based on the book; the series premiered on 11 October 2010.[3] With a €4 million budget, the series is the most expensive in Greek television history.[4] During a pre-premiere press screening, the show has received positive critical reception and is reportedly being eyed by foreign networks.[4] Initial thoughts by Mega Channel were to make a film out of the novel, but they finally decided upon a 26 episode television series instead.[3] Mirella Papaeconomou primarily took on the script’s adaptation, and with Hislop’s permission added stories and characters that do not exist in the novel, mostly to fill in the time of an entire TV season as well as enrich the book.[3] Hislop has actively participated in the entire process with ideas, suggestions and observations.[3] Shooting began in December 2009 on location on the island of Crete.[3]