The Return - Victoria Hislop

Much to the annoyance of her domineering husband, Sonia accepts her best friend's invitation to join her on a salsa dance course in Granada. Before she leaves, Sonia pays a visit to her elderly father who shows a keen interest in her dancing, telling her about how he and her late mother were keen amateur dancers in their younger days. He shows her some photographs but quietly puts one of them to the side without showing Sonia. When her father is out of the room she sneaks a look at the photograph which shows a group of children, one of them obviously her mother; although she doesn't know exactly where it was taken, she suspects it was in Spain where her mother grew up. ...  Read the complete review

Anyone who ever buys a book based on the "Richard and Judy Book Club" will probably have read "The Island" by Victoria Hislop. When I saw "The Return" for 10p at my parents village fete I could not resist! The book is set both in the modern day and in the 1930s in Spain. Two stories are told - a contemporary one at the beginning and end and a historical one in the middle. Modern plot Centres around Sonia - a 30 something married to a boring, older man who desperately wants her to settle down and have babies. She, however is a passionate person who loves to dance and enjoy life. She is persuaded to go on a dancing ...  Read the complete review

I have to be the only book fan left in the UK who hasn't read Hislop's first book "The Island", which was popularised by Richard and Judy's book club a couple of years back. However, I thought I would give this book a go. It is now on paperback and available on Amazon for £3.86. The book starts in the present day. Sonia is unhappily married to a stuffy, unsympathetic but successful man. She discovers a passion for flamenco and goes to Granada with bohemian childhood friend Maggie. She becomes seduced by the dance and the culture and begins a conversation with a cafe owner about the history of the cafe owners. The current ...  Read the complete review

The Return by Victoria Hislop... Victoria Hislop's first novel was The Island which was published a few years back now and I have ever since reading that been waiting for the next instalment from Hislop. I enjoyed "The Island" so much and it still has a lasting affect on me even now that frankly I was rather disappointed with Hislop's attempt at a second book. The beginning of the book starts off quite promising and is set in the current times as the book continues on the story of one woman and her friend setting off for dance lessons in Spain and within a few chapters we are transported back to the time of the Spanish Civil War. ...  Read the complete review

The Island by Victoria Hislop has to be one of my favourite books so when I spotted this for £3.98 in Sainsburys (and already at number 1 in the chart) I had to have it. Anyone who has read The Island will know that it is a trip back in time started by somebody reminiscing, this story is very similar in that way. The book is split into 3 parts. In Part One we are in Granada in the year 2001 with Sonia and Maggie, two friends on a Salsa holiday. They both love dance and are taking lessons, after seeing a Flamenco show one evening Sonia becomes obsessed with the more passionate of the Spanish dances. She finds a cafe with a lovely old man ...  Read the complete review