Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Return | 2008 | Victoria Hislop | Buy |
| 2 | The Thread | 2011 | Victoria Hislop | Buy |
| 3 | The Sunrise | 2014 | Victoria Hislop | Buy |
| 4 | Those Who Are Loved | 2019 | Victoria Hislop | Buy |
| 5 | The Figurine | 2023 | Victoria Hislop | Buy |
Victoria Hislop’s standalone novels each explore a different chapter of Mediterranean history through the eyes of fictional characters. The Return (2008) is set in Granada during the Spanish Civil War, while The Thread (2011) spans nearly a century of life in Thessaloniki. The Sunrise (2014) tells a story set against the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, and Those Who Are Loved (2019) follows a Greek woman from the German occupation through the military junta.
Her most recent standalone, The Figurine (2023), deals with the Greek art world and its connections to the country’s past. Each novel stands on its own, with no shared characters or plotlines. What they do share is Hislop’s approach to historical fiction: real events as the backdrop for personal stories about family, loss, and survival.