Victoria Hislop

Victoria Hislop (née Hamson; born 1959) is an English author.^[2]

Victoria Hislop FRSL
Hislop signing books in Greece, February 2008
Born	1959 (age 65–66)[1] Bromley, Kent, England
Occupation	Novelist
Citizenship	United Kingdom, Greece
Alma mater	St Hilda's College, Oxford
Spouse	Ian Hislop ​ (m. 1988)​
Children	2; including William
Website
www.victoriahislop.com

Early life

Born in Bromley, Kent, she was raised in Tonbridge and attended Tonbridge Grammar School.^[3] She studied English at St Hilda's College, Oxford,^[4] and worked in publishing and as a journalist before becoming an author.^[5]

Career

Her novel The Island (2005) was a number-one bestseller in Britain, its success in part the result of having been selected by the Richard & Judy Book Club for their 2006 Summer Reads. To Nisi (The Island) was filmed as a TV series by the Greek TV channel MEGA.

In 2009, she donated the short story "Aflame in Athens" to Oxfam's "Ox-Tales" project, four collections of British stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the "Fire" collection.^[6] Hislop has a particular affection for Greece. She visits the country often for research and other reasons, and has a second home on the island of Crete.^[7]

Hislop was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2024.^[8]

Personal life

Victoria married Private Eye editor Ian Hislop on 16 April 1988 in Oxford; the couple have two children: Emily Helen (born 1990) and William David (born 1993).^[9]

Hislop lived in London for more than twenty years, but now lives in Sissinghurst,^[3] Kent.

In 2020, Hislop was granted honorary Greek citizenship for promoting modern Greek history and culture.^[10] The following year she was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars, the Greek version of Strictly Come Dancing.^[11]

Bibliography

Novels

• The Island (2005)
• The Return (2008)
• The Thread (2011)
• The Sunrise (2014)
• Cartes Postales from Greece (2016)
• Those Who Are Loved (2019)
• One August Night (2020)
• Maria's Island (2021)
• The Figurine (2023)

Short stories

• One Cretan Evening and Other Stories (2011)
  • "One Cretan Evening" (2008)
  • "The Pine Tree" (2008)
  • "By The Fire" (2009)
  • "The Warmest Christmas Ever" (2007)
  • "Aflame in Athens" (2009)
• The Last Dance and Other Stories (2012; ten stories)

Non-fiction

• Sink or Swim: The Self-help Book for Men Who Never Read Them (2002) (with Duncan Goodhew)
• Fix Your Life – Now!: The Six Step Plan to Help You Fix Your Life (2012) (with Duncan Goodhew)