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Hearts of Stone

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Hearts of Stone

2015 | Fiction & Poetry

1938. A perfect summer on the Greek island of Lefkas for three young people untroubled by the simmering politics of Europe. Peter, visiting from Germany while his father leads an archaeological dig, has become close friends with locals Andreas and Eleni. As the world slides towards conflict and Peter is forced to leave, they swear to meet again.

1943: Andreas and Eleni have joined the partisan forces resisting the German invasion. Peter has returned - now a dangerously well-informed enemy intelligence officer. A friendship formed in peace will turn into a desperate battle between enemies sworn to sacrifice everything for the countries that they love.

2013. Dieter asks Anna to find out about her gran's past in Greece. Can they meet for coffee, or a meal when he visits from Germany? She pus him off, but asks Eleni Moss what happened.

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Simon Scarrow
Published by Headline Hachette
Edition Unknown
ISBN 9780755380220
Language English

Images And Data Courtesy Of: Headline Hachette.
This content (including text, images, videos and other media) is published and used in accordance with Fair Use.

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David McK

Added this item on Dec 17, 2018

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David McK (3562 KP) rated

Feb 9, 2022  
Hearts of Stone
Hearts of Stone
Simon Scarrow | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry
6
5.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Not quite what the blurb makes out
Whilst I do associate Simon Scarrow with the genre of historical fiction, these tend to be set further back in history: mainly around the time of the Roman Empire; there or thereabouts.

Until recently, I've tended to avoid his few works that are more contemporary in nature, only recently (towards the end of last year) reading Blackout as I felt they were 'too close' (if that makes sense) for comfort for me in that there are still people alive who lived through the setting.

I must admit, I did quite enjoy Blackout so thought I would also give this a go, due to the roughly the same (WW2) setting.

This novel flits back and forth between then and 'now' (of 2013), as the descendants of the main 1940s settings character start to discover more about their ancestors - in particular, as history teacher Anna uncovers the story of her maternal grandmother Eleni, who participated in the Greek resistance on the island of Lefkas during 1943.

The whole had-a-German-friend in 1939 thing almost seems incidental to the story (he's not), until roughly about the final third.

And yes, I did pick up on the arguments in favour of teaching history (a subject I did, mostly, enjoy in school) passages.
  
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Hazel (1853 KP) rated

Dec 17, 2018  
Hearts of Stone
Hearts of Stone
Simon Scarrow | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry
4
5.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
<i>I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.</i>

Simon Scarrow brings to life the horrors of World War II in his latest novel <i>Hearts of Stone</i>. In 2013, Anna Thesskoudiss, a history teacher is contacted by a German research student, Dieter Muller who is interested in talking to her grandmother Eleni. He explains that he is the grandson of Peter Muller who was friends with her grandmother whilst staying on the Greek island of Lefkas until the war made them enemies.

Dieter Muller’s introduction implies that the story is going to be about the relationship between Eleni and Peter, which gets destroyed when Peter returns to the island as an enemy intelligence officer. The blurb for <i>Hearts of Stone</i> also implies this. However, the majority of the book focuses on their friend Andreas’ experience of the Navy and his role in the resistance. Scarrow goes into detail of every dangerous situation Andreas finds himself in, but this is not what the reader was expecting to learn about. Eventually the final chapters turn to Peter’s role in the war and the reason Eleni and he could no longer consider themselves friends.

Despite being full of action and war horrors, it gets a little boring reading about Andreas’ life. Although this narrative leads to what happens with Peter, it occasionally felt unnecessary, as it was the final stages that appeared to be the most important.

From an historical point of view it is refreshing to read a war story that is not focused on either Britain or Germany. <i>Hearts of Stone</i> reveals how Greece was affected even though they were not one of the main fighting bodies. It is shocking how many innocent people were killed purely for the Nazi’s to invoke fear in the hopes the natives would submit to their rule.

Hopefully the vast amount of mistakes and grammatical errors would have been corrected before the final – I read an uncorrected proof – publication. Admittedly <i>Hearts of Stone</i> was a bit of a disappointment as it was not exactly what it appeared to be. However it has educational value as well as entertainment for readers who enjoy war stories. Scarrow has also included maps of the Greek island of Lefkas and the Mediterranean during WWII as well as a character list to benefit readers as they take in the story.