Lead Review (Villa of Secrets)

• Book: Villa of Secrets
• Location: Rhodes
• Author: Patricia Wilson

Review Author: tripfiction

There is a lot going on in this fairly lengthy novel. Dora’s story is told from the present looking back over the years of WW2, when Rhodes was under Italian rule, with German invaders. Her family is Jewish and many members were shipped off to concentration camps, leaving her to bravely fend for herself and a very young woman.

Her story comes to life through the medium of diaries, which her granddaughter Naomi has read and now feels the need to pass on to her sister, Rebecca, who is with Fritz, living in Bromley, London. There has been no contact between the sisters for more than a decade, ever since Rebecca announced her marriage to Fritz, who is of Teutonic descent. Dora took against him because he reminded her of the war years and the suffering she had to endure in her homeland.

In London, Rebecca is going through rounds of IVF which is inevitably putting a strain on her couple relationship. One day she receives a package, which, although addressed to her, she assumes it is for her husband. But when she does in fact open it, she is horrified to discover the contents (I thought it unlikely that the contents could have been sent through the post?). Anyway, shocking as they are, she understands that she must pick up contact with her family on Rhodes and start to read Dora’s diaries, and in this way she will discover the exact nature of her grandmother’s life during the terrible years. Dora was a brave soul, who stoically fought for her country and bore a child. She suffered a high level of loss, during and beyond the war years.

In present day Rhodes the family is fighting for the right to reclaim a property that was illegally taken from them during the war, and if they win their case, it would set a precedent for all those who lost their rights to their own properties during the war years.

I found it a compelling and at times heart wrenching audiobook (beautifully narrated by Lucy Paterson), which offered a lot of insight into the history of Rhodes and of the people and traditions. However, the novel felt overly long and the dramas that plague the characters – right up to the end when a ship capsizes – seemed rather excessive, and the drawn-out ending caused a bit of an eye roll.

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