Description

Multimillion copy bestselling author Victoria Hislop returns with the captivating tale of one womans quest to come to terms with her familys brutal past

In her irresistible new novel Sunday Times No 1 bestselling author Victoria Hislop shines a light on the questionable acquisition of cultural treasures and the price people and countries will pay to cling on to them

Of all the ancient art that captures the imagination none is more appealing than the Cycladic figurine An air of mystery swirls around these statuettes from the Bronze Age and they are highly sought after by collectors and looters alike

When Helena inherits her grandparents apartment in Athens she is overwhelmed with memories of the summers she spent there as a child when Greece was under a brutal military dictatorship Her remote cruel grandfather was one of the regimes generals and as she sifts through the dusty rooms Helena discovers an array of valuable objects and antiquities How did her grandfather amass such a trove What human price was paid for them

Helenas desire to find answers about her heritage dovetails with a growing curiosity for archaeology ignited by a summer spent with volunteers on a dig on an Aegean island Their finds fuel her determination to protect the precious fragments recovered from the baked earth and to understand the origins of her grandfathers collection

Helenas attempt to make amends for some of her grandfathers actions sees her wrestle with the meaning of home both in relation to looted objects of antiquity and herself

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