Her clear opinion that the Parthenon sculptures must be returned to Hellas and her optimism that this will happen in the coming years, expressed once again from Thessaloniki, the Victoria Hislop.

The popular British author, found in Thessaloniki Concert Hall in the context of the second cycle of events “Writers of the world travel to the Megaro” and had a delightful discussion in front of a large audience, with the archaeologist Dr. Theodoros Papakostas.

Her new book “The figurine”, released at the end of 2023, but also the sources from which it draws inspiration, were the main topics of discussion.

She also referred to the Greece of her heart, to the time she spends here, as well as to stories of Greek hospitalityall speaking in Greek – which he hopes to become fluent at some point.

Victoria Hislop charmed the audience with her simplicity, approachability and humor.

“Writing The Idol, I understood even more the necessity to repatriate the sculptures of the Parthenon”

In the book “The Idol”, the story unfolds of Helena, who inherits her grandparents’ apartment in Athens. Her cruel and distant grandfather was a general in the dictatorial regime, and as Helena rummages through the dusty rooms, she discovers a wealth of valuable artefacts and antiquities. She wonders how her grandfather managed to amass such a treasure and what the human price was.

Her determination to find the answers about her grandfather and an excavation where she volunteers because of a love interest, magnify her longing to protect the findings, but she unwittingly finds herself entangled in a dangerous network of antiquities.

The stimuli to write this particular book came from her recent experiences and through them she understood even more the necessity to repatriate the sculptures of the Parthenon.

“If something is stolen from another country, it must return to its home. Already countless things from other major museums in the world have been returned to the right place. Although the British museum it’s conservative, I think it should open its eyes and politicians should listen to society,” he said characteristically, citing gallop that want the British to take sides in favor of the return of the Sculptors.

She herself agreed with Dr. Papakostas, who characterized her antiquarianism “rape of cultural heritage” and explained how much historical information is lost when a find leaves the place it was found in this way. Victoria Hislop admitted that it was only five years ago that she realized how important archeology is, while she estimated that many people still do not understand it.

The stolen antiquities of Keros the inspiration

In her beloved Crete, where she had been a tourist in Spinalonga and felt the need to write her first novel, The Island (which became a bestseller, was published in 23 countries and is included in the list of the most successful novels internationally), in same place “lit a light” and for her inspiration for the Idol.

“In Knossos I met archaeologists. Until then I was ignorant of archaeology. At one point one of them invited me to go to an excavation in Kero. The first thing he told me as we traveled there, was not about the items we would find on the island, but about the thousands that weren’t there, that had been stolen. For me this was the beginning”, he emphasized.

As Dr. Papakostas explained, in Keros, the largest uninhabited island of the Cyclades, a great many Cycladic figurines were discovered, more than were found in all the Cyclades combined. He pointed out, however, that Victoria Hislop’s book, although a novel, contains archaeological information that is 100% accurate.

“The archaeologists told me a lot of details,” explained Mrs. Hislop, revealing that in addition to relevant reading, she also spent time with archaeologist Christos Tsirogiannis, who specializes in international antiquities circles. “I have also traveled to the Cyclades and visited museums. Research can be so many different things, but for me looking at a figurine in Naxos, alone in a room, is an experience that inspires me. Research is not just words from a book, but feelings that give ideas, opinions, atmosphere,” he pointed out.

Crete…Niki Hislopakis, the police and Greek food

After the worldwide promotion of the Spinalonga monument with the book “The Island” and the highlighting of modern Greek history and culture, in 2020 the British writer was awarded Greek citizenship. “Now that you are naturalized Greek, if you needed to change your last name, how would you do it?”, she was asked by Theodoros Papakostas, who suggested the endings -ido, -opoulou and -aki.

“Fifteen years in Crete, I am always Hislopaki. Niki Hislopakis“, she characteristically said, also translating her first name into Greek. “Only it’s not on my passport,” he added. In fact, she mentioned stories from the police station where she was found on the occasion of the reissuance of her lost passport. “Here in Greece there is a field where eye color must be written. I said they are brown and suddenly about ten policemen who were on duty came and looked at my eyes and argued about their color. Another said gray, another green, another black. It was so funny… In Greece something so simple can be so different, so happy, so alive. In England if you go to get a passport, there is no question. In Greece it was a party,” he enthused, making the audience laugh out loud.

Since then, the police officers of the particular department, is – as he says, friends her.

Even to Mr. Papakosta’s question about which one is her favorite food, the answer includes police officers, but also once again the comparison of her two …homelands. “It doesn’t matter what you eat in Greece, but the relish which he has because you share it”, he characteristically said.

He specifically mentioned one Cretan feast who attended Easter last year in a village in Crete, with intense and powerful traditional music. “Suddenly I saw the blue light of a patrol car’s beacon. I thought we were making a lot of noise and the neighbors called the police and I was sad that the party would have to stop. But the policeman came, sat next to me, we ate lamb from the same plate and that was his break. Then he left to continue his work,” she said, answering that her favorite food is the lamb, which is incredibly delicious because it was turned for hours on the spit, but mainly because it is shared with everyone.

“In England food didn’t play a big part in life, you just ate to live,” he said, describing a typical dish of meat (without gravy) peas, carrots and potatoes.

Greek music and Melina Merkouri

Referring to Greek music, she singled out Giorgos Dalaras, who is also loved by the heroine of her book, Helena, as well as Vassilis Tsitsanis, whose music accompanied the writing of her book “The Thread”, which was released in 2022 and has it does with Thessaloniki in 1917, the Great Fire and the Jews.

She explained that when she finishes writing one book and before starting the next one, she clears her mind, rests, and takes the time to read books by other authors, something she never does when she’s writing, because “it’s easy to get your writing influenced by of the other”, as he said.

Finally, he was asked about the place and year he would choose if he could time travel. He chose the -not too distant- Greece of the 70s, the period shortly after the Junta, to feel what this “after” is like. As he said “I have already traveled with my imagination there, but it is not the same”.

In fact, he would definitely seek to meet Melina Merkouri. “She is a woman I would very much like to be next to, to have a conversation with,” he declared and asked the audience if anyone had met her and asked the three who responded positively to convey their experience to her immediately afterwards.