VICTORIA HISLOP: HAPPINESS IS REALLY IMPORTANT – IT MAKES YOU STRONGER

Author Victoria Hislop opens up about the recent death of her mother, her thoughts on ageing, and the importance of feeling happiness.

Victoria Hislop is thoughtful, erudite and exudes a poise and kindness that’s quite lovely. This charm runs through her books too, including her latest, One August Night. The sequel to her 2005 bestseller The Island – which focussed on Spinalonga off Crete, home to a Greek leper colony. We caught up with Hislop, 61, whose mother Mary died in March, to discuss lockdown, grief, and the value of taking care of yourself…

You wrote your new book during the first lockdown. Did it feel like a kind of therapy?

“At the moment, we all feel just completely out of control in a very different way from anything we’ve felt before. And we just have to accept the fact we’re out of control. Writing something, or creating something, definitely, I’d call it a kind of therapy.”

What made you want to write it?

“My mum was in a care home and she died the second week of March. It was really unexpected, so I was already totally discombobulated by that, and then we went into lockdown and there was the idea of an incurable disease swirling around us. I just thought: ‘I need a distraction, I need a routine, I need to start writing again’. I was still mulling about what to do next and this idea – I thought, ‘Well that’s something I can do’. If it doesn’t work, it won’t matter, but I’m going to sit at my desk every morning and get on with something.”

How do you feel about ageing and time passing?

“I realised a few months ago that I’m probably in my last quarter. Do you worry about being in your ‘final quarter’?

“Enjoy life, because I think you’ve only got one. There’s no point in lamenting each day going by..”

You and Ian Hislop have been married 32 years – what’s the secret to a happy marriage?

“We met at university and haven’t really been apart since. But we both really enjoy what we do and support each other. We have independence, because I’m not involved in his work and he’s not involved in mine, but we know that work is important to the other one in the same way.”

How do you take care of your own wellbeing?

“I do a lot of Pilates. I just find it really suits me. I do it four or five times a week now for an hour, and I walk a lot. When I was younger, I wouldn’t take the time to do something that made me feel that much better, I’d always think there was something more important to do. But I actually think, if you make yourself feel good, you’ve got more energy and mental space then to look after other people as well.”

One August Night by Victoria Hislop is published by Headline, priced £14.99