The Sunrise - Victoria Hislop

The Sunrise is the first book I have read by Victoria Hislop so I didn't know what to expect from her. I got this book as a present from my parents few years ago and if it wasn't for them I don't think I would have had bought this for myself. The blurb sounds great, but not really my kind of book. After diving into it, I got surprised. I actually liked it! I think want to check out more of her books tbh :)

The Blurb:
Cyprus, 1972.
Famagusta is the Mediterranean's most desirable resort, a city bathed in the glow of good fortune. An ambitious couple open the island's most spectacular hotel, where Greek and Turkish Cypriots work in harmony.

Two neighbouring families, the Georgious and the Özkans, are among many who moved to Famagusta to escape years of unrest and ethnic violence elsewhere on the island. But beneath the city's façade of glamour and success, tensions is building.

When a Greek coup plunges the island into chaos, Cyprus faces a disastrous conflict. Turkey invades to protect the Turkish Cypriot minority, and Famagusta is shelled. Forty thousand people seize their most precious possessions and flee from the advancing soldiers.

In the deserted city, just two families remain.
This is their story.

My Thoughts:
I started writing this review early December last year and I think it's time to maybe finish it? Yup..

I don't remember much since I finished reading it over a month ago so this might be a short review. My apologies.

When I jumped into this book I immediately found out that this was not my type of book. Not much happened and it was all about this hotel called The Sunrise and all that rich interior that was in it and in the end I was like: yeah.. I get that now.. it's a wonderful (and really expensive) hotel! And the characters... I like books with main characters from the start, but this one started with how glorious this hotel was and didn't really know who the characters were. But! After some chapters, when things actually started to happen and the characters became more "present", I actually started to enjoy this book very much. There was lots of drama, tragedies, loss, betrayal.. you name it. Talking about the lack of characters in the beginning, there turned out to be a quite few of those after a few chapters, so you had to remember which character belonged to whom. It got bit confusing, but still managed somehow to connect them to "their right family" 😛

After Turkey invades Famagusta, two families decides to stay behind because of their sons who's been gone/missing right before the whole invading started. It's not only those to families you get to read about. There's also a couple - the couple who owns The Sunrise - that is a part of this story as well. Their escape from Famagusta and how they survive the travel and stuff. Not going to reveal to much! It was a thrill read (in the end) and you do get a little bit attached to some of the characters.

All in all, I'm glad that I didn't give up reading The Sunrise to be honest. Because it was so, so much better than I thought it would be.

And that's it. That's the only things I remember at the moment.

Bye!

3/5