Between the Orange Groves
In a small village, set among the wild mountains of Cyprus, two families of different faiths share a seemingly unbreakable friendship based on mutual respect and deep affection. Mothers and daughters share their daily secrets, fathers and sons support each other as they live their lives between the fragrant pine trees and orange groves. It’s here that two boys, Lambros and Orhan, grow up side by side, as close as brothers. Their lives are inextricably linked, but as their fortunes shift and time passes, an unforgivable act of betrayal takes place, setting in motion a chain of events that tears the two friends and their entire families apart . . .
Many decades later and now an old man living in London, Lambros decides to share his painful memories with his daughter Stella; transporting her back to an island brimming with passion and at its heart a scandal that still haunts those involved. Is it too late for forgiveness? Or can the next generation embark on a journey of their own to help mend the damage done all those years ago?
I enjoyed the storyline of this book and it was a very easy reading style, a bit too easy in some ways. The Book lacked the depth of Victoria Hislop and if the time line of Cyprus hadn't been put at the end of the book I wouldn't have looked up any of the history as I find myself doing when reading Victoria Hislop.
The book skimmed over the families history and was jumping from one time to another. I didn't feel the way Stella was talking to her father at times in the book worked. It should have just been at the start and the end.
None of the members of the families involved seemed to have much in the way of luck, either died young and tragically, only had one or two children and numerous members weren't able to have any.
The ending I found a little confusing when Stella and her brother were walking around looking for Orhan, another family member was mentioned as being with them, no idea who it was, they just seemed to appear.
The book did highlight the intolerance and tolerance between the Greeks and Turks and showed it is only the minority that prevents the majority living happily alongside each other.
My copy was provided by NetGalley for review.