Helena McCloud introduces us to Athens, from her summer holidays spent with grandparents during the 1960s to her young womanhood exploring culture. THE FIGURINE is the latest Greek-based fiction from Victoria Hislop, and this novel told me a great deal about life in Greece for a recent generation or two.

Growing up in England, with a Scots father and Greek mother Mary, Helena doesn’t understand why her parents and grandparents never meet, and at the age of eight, she is packed off to the palatial apartment on an Athens street. Greece is ruled by a military dictatorship, in which her grandfather Papagiannis is proud to play a part. The soldiers on every street corner, the rumours of abductions, imprisonment of academics, and beatings of anyone suspected of communist sympathies, gradually filter into the child’s consciousness over the next few years. But for her, Athens is where she saw the Moon landings on TV, where she walks in the sun to the fish markets and fruit stalls, dusts the china cabinet, and improves her Greek.  

The figurine of the title could refer to Helena herself. At first, she is remarked on for her prettiness and red hair, treated almost like a decoration, and made to pass a tray around during cocktail parties so the wealthy can admire her.  But she feels the darker side, the weight of oppression and lack of love. Grandmother Elena Papagiannis does as her husband wishes. During the second half of the book, Helena inherits the apartment, and during her college summers, she assists at archaeology digs, learning about antiquities and about the kind of young men who explore archaeology, for various reasons, such as Nick Jones. A Cycladic figurine comes to the fore, representing the mass of treasures lifted, looted, and sold from grave sites and towns in the beautiful islands. At this point, the girl’s adventure becomes a crime story.  

My favourite part of the tale was Helena clearing out the accumulated clutter of years in the apartment, I could feel the dust and gloom lift with every paragraph. Due to the heat and brightness of the day, the rooms were made with hard surfaces and dark furnishings. Shutters and thick dark curtains were added to stop the sun from fading the furnishings and paintings. The place felt like a mausoleum. For the housekeeper, Dina, a small windowless room off the kitchen was considered sufficient, and she got one day off a month. The privileged were keener on benefits for themselves than for the people. Helena is a breath of fresh air--literally. Author Victoria Hislop has created a tour de force in THE FIGURINE, which is compulsively readable and better than any travel guide.