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Stephanos #3
The Pagan Island
When her beloved Dion — her cousin, her first and only love — died, life seemed to end for Hebe too. But she had to try to forget her grief — though she could never forget Dion — and so she went to Greece, and found herself on the lovely, wild island of Petra. There she met Nikos Stephanos, a man as different from Dion as he could possibly be, but who was to have just as great an influence on Hebe's life. But a dark tragedy lay over Nikos's life. What was the secret behind his unhappy marriage? Had he, as the islanders believed, driven his wife to her death? Could Hebe help him in any way — or would Nikos only bring more unhappiness into her life too?
- GenresHarlequin RomanceRomance
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
About the author
Violet Winspear
176 books142 followersViolet Winspear was a British author renowned for her prolific output of romance novels, publishing seventy titles with Mills & Boon between 1961 and 1987. In 1973, she became a launch author for the Mills & Boon-Harlequin Presents line, known for its more sexually explicit content, alongside Anne Mather and Anne Hampson, two of the most popular and prolific British romance writers of the time. Winspear began writing while working in a factory and became a full-time novelist in 1963, producing her works from her home in South East England, researching exotic settings at her local library. She famously described her heroes as lean, strong, and captivating, “in need of love but capable of breathtaking passion and potency,” a characterization that provoked controversy in 1970 when she stated that her male protagonists were “capable of rape,” leading to considerable public backlash. Her novels are celebrated for their vivid, globe-spanning settings and dramatic tension, often employing sexual antagonism to heighten conflict between the alpha male hero and the heroine, who is frequently portrayed as naïve or overwhelmed by his dominance. Winspear never married or had children, and she passed away in January 1989 after a long battle with cancer, leaving a lasting influence on the romance genre.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 6, 2020
"The Pagan Island" is the story of Hebe and Nikos.
Our heroine is a pale British girl, who is heartbroken when her beloved cousin dies. She travels to Greece to mourn, as well as return an heirloom to the very elusive hero. They meet by chance, and then again.. until she is asked to be an au-pair for his young daughter. She initially declines, but is forced by the laws of nature and her love for the child to concede. But with a catty OW laying claim on him, will she realize her evolving feelings for the hero?
Well written, slow burn romance with a sassy independent heroine and a brooding smitten hero. He was obviously taken with her, but all she did was give him multiple verbal lashings and push him away. I enjoyed her relationship with his daughter and staff- but she seemed extremely oblivious to the hero.. until OW suddenly intervened and bam- she was in love. I wish we saw more of her in love! The descriptions of Greece were beautiful though.
Anyways, a good one time read.
Safe
3.5/5
Our heroine is a pale British girl, who is heartbroken when her beloved cousin dies. She travels to Greece to mourn, as well as return an heirloom to the very elusive hero. They meet by chance, and then again.. until she is asked to be an au-pair for his young daughter. She initially declines, but is forced by the laws of nature and her love for the child to concede. But with a catty OW laying claim on him, will she realize her evolving feelings for the hero?
Well written, slow burn romance with a sassy independent heroine and a brooding smitten hero. He was obviously taken with her, but all she did was give him multiple verbal lashings and push him away. I enjoyed her relationship with his daughter and staff- but she seemed extremely oblivious to the hero.. until OW suddenly intervened and bam- she was in love. I wish we saw more of her in love! The descriptions of Greece were beautiful though.
Anyways, a good one time read.
Safe
3.5/5
July 20, 2020
Last of the author's Stephanos trilogy about members of a proud, wealthy, Greek family who somehow fall irrevocably and obsessively in love with unsuitable, recalcitrant Anglos. It began with The Honey is Bitter, followed by Dragon Bay and concludes with The Pagan Island.
The heroine in this story is a young, virginal, English waif who is in deep mourning after the death by drowning of her cousin, who was the love of her life. She decides to travel to the Greek island of Petra to personally return an ancient, jeweled Greek icon that had been in her cousin's possession, back to its rightful owner.
The man she has traveled to see is a widower who lives on Petra with his 6 year old daughter in an imposing, very guarded villa, and makes his successful living building Greek style caiques (boats). Rumors abound that, though he was very much in love with his beautiful, blonde, American wife, he eventually killed her in a fit of jealousy by pushing her off an island cliff.
The heroine is mistrustful of the hero from the get-go. But after she meets his daughter, she somehow gets sucked into their lives, despite all her efforts to resist. There is an American divorcee OW who traveled all the way to this isolated, primitive spot in the middle of nowhere because she is fixated on hero. She knew him when they were both married to others. Now that they have both been widowed, she is desperate to become his second wife.
An earthquake forces heroine, OW, hero, his daughter and assorted servants to shelter at his villa. OW throws herself at hero and hisses territorially at heroine. Hero is falling for heroine but actively fighting it. His resistance finally snaps when a storm almost carries off the heroine into the sea.
Though it is never explicitly explained, it is implied that the hero was taken in by the pretty face of his first wife but their marriage soon turned to hell when he discovered she had a reckless, unstable mind (biploar?). He brought her to his island hoping to improve things but she eventually threw herself down the cliff during one of her mental fits.
Hero and heroine finally admit they love each other and have from the start even though both fought against it. A very bitter OW is sent packing while the plot moppet daughter of the hero happily obtains the stepmother of her dreams, and hopefully more siblings in the future.
It is Violet Winspear so we get great, gothicky mood: the rock that wife number one tumbled from may have been used in ancient times as a blood sacrifice altar to the God Helios, a statue of Adonis that looks like hero is decapitated in the earthquake, the heroine is named after Hebe, cupbearer to the gods, and the island is nicknamed Garden of Stone because Petra rejected the love of Apollo. But the romance itself between the protagonists left me cold and the ending felt rushed.
The heroine in this story is a young, virginal, English waif who is in deep mourning after the death by drowning of her cousin, who was the love of her life. She decides to travel to the Greek island of Petra to personally return an ancient, jeweled Greek icon that had been in her cousin's possession, back to its rightful owner.
The man she has traveled to see is a widower who lives on Petra with his 6 year old daughter in an imposing, very guarded villa, and makes his successful living building Greek style caiques (boats). Rumors abound that, though he was very much in love with his beautiful, blonde, American wife, he eventually killed her in a fit of jealousy by pushing her off an island cliff.
The heroine is mistrustful of the hero from the get-go. But after she meets his daughter, she somehow gets sucked into their lives, despite all her efforts to resist. There is an American divorcee OW who traveled all the way to this isolated, primitive spot in the middle of nowhere because she is fixated on hero. She knew him when they were both married to others. Now that they have both been widowed, she is desperate to become his second wife.
An earthquake forces heroine, OW, hero, his daughter and assorted servants to shelter at his villa. OW throws herself at hero and hisses territorially at heroine. Hero is falling for heroine but actively fighting it. His resistance finally snaps when a storm almost carries off the heroine into the sea.
Though it is never explicitly explained, it is implied that the hero was taken in by the pretty face of his first wife but their marriage soon turned to hell when he discovered she had a reckless, unstable mind (biploar?). He brought her to his island hoping to improve things but she eventually threw herself down the cliff during one of her mental fits.
Hero and heroine finally admit they love each other and have from the start even though both fought against it. A very bitter OW is sent packing while the plot moppet daughter of the hero happily obtains the stepmother of her dreams, and hopefully more siblings in the future.
It is Violet Winspear so we get great, gothicky mood: the rock that wife number one tumbled from may have been used in ancient times as a blood sacrifice altar to the God Helios, a statue of Adonis that looks like hero is decapitated in the earthquake, the heroine is named after Hebe, cupbearer to the gods, and the island is nicknamed Garden of Stone because Petra rejected the love of Apollo. But the romance itself between the protagonists left me cold and the ending felt rushed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 13, 2013
A simple romance story written in poetic-style. It was about Hebe Lawnay who, after the death of her beloved Dion, went to Greece in order to fulfill what Dion had told her – to return the icon, which was a given as a gift to his family, to a certain Nikos Stephanos who was living in Greece. Hebe eventually encounters Nikos in some unexpected circumstances, and the romance between these two unhappy people broods.
What I liked about this story was not the romance, but the light, poetic descriptions that enabled me to have a “feel” of what it is like to be in Greece. I was taking The Iliad (translated by R. Fitzgerald) for my Classical Literature subject when I reread The Pagan Island. Although TPG is set in a much, much modern setting, it still reminded me many times of The Iliad. Just like in The Iliad, the gods were seen in TPG as the ones who hold the fates of men, as seen in these lines from TPG:
The sun in her [Hebe’s] life, eclipsed by the breaking of a boom and a blow that knocked him [Dion] into the churning sea and drowned him… The gods take young the daring and the dancing!
And conversations in TPG go like this:
“…Will your Grecian isle easy my hurt, do you think?”
“She will teach you, at least, that pain and sorrow are not confined to oneself. That each of us in turn must endure it.”
“…Is Petra [the place in Greece] beautiful?”
“For those who have eyes to see it, and feelings to sense it. Some say of the island that it is a garden of stone. That Apollo turned it stone because Petra rejected him as a lover.”
The conversations are fresh as well as the descriptions. Even when I first read of TPG two years ago, I understood it very well then. And I particularly like this line: “The sea and the stars are twin souls. One is so deep and the other so untouchable.”
What I liked about this story was not the romance, but the light, poetic descriptions that enabled me to have a “feel” of what it is like to be in Greece. I was taking The Iliad (translated by R. Fitzgerald) for my Classical Literature subject when I reread The Pagan Island. Although TPG is set in a much, much modern setting, it still reminded me many times of The Iliad. Just like in The Iliad, the gods were seen in TPG as the ones who hold the fates of men, as seen in these lines from TPG:
The sun in her [Hebe’s] life, eclipsed by the breaking of a boom and a blow that knocked him [Dion] into the churning sea and drowned him… The gods take young the daring and the dancing!
And conversations in TPG go like this:
“…Will your Grecian isle easy my hurt, do you think?”
“She will teach you, at least, that pain and sorrow are not confined to oneself. That each of us in turn must endure it.”
“…Is Petra [the place in Greece] beautiful?”
“For those who have eyes to see it, and feelings to sense it. Some say of the island that it is a garden of stone. That Apollo turned it stone because Petra rejected him as a lover.”
The conversations are fresh as well as the descriptions. Even when I first read of TPG two years ago, I understood it very well then. And I particularly like this line: “The sea and the stars are twin souls. One is so deep and the other so untouchable.”
June 7, 2020
What in the actual hell have I just read?
The H has evolved from the first book into an entirely miserable toe rag who is now widowed and has a plot moppet daughter.
The h is a total snowflake who is in love with her dead cousin for the entire book bar the last few pages which is gross esp as they were brought up as brother and sister really - yuck it made me feel totally icky reading that.
H is suspected of pushing his wife off a cliff because she didn't like living in Greece when in reality she seems to have suffered a breakdown of some kind and jumped (so we are led to believe as real H's don't bump off their wives although they can inadvertently cause their deaths via working too hard so they get kidnapped and die or hit by vehicles while coming to meet hubby's).
There is an OW who is a widow herself and knew the H when he was married but she is abruptly seen off on the last couple of pages too.
h comes to not work for the H as a non governess for the daughter because they like each other and an earthquake has destroyed her accommodation. She will "work" for bed and board to look after the daughter because she wants to not for the H.
Brooding, angst, forced kisses, sharks, earthquakes, sailing, much pagan references and dolphins abound in this along with more brooding for a rather abrupt ending where the H has loved her forever and shes a "woman in love" now and not a "girl in love with love" - colour me underwhelmed.
The H has evolved from the first book into an entirely miserable toe rag who is now widowed and has a plot moppet daughter.
The h is a total snowflake who is in love with her dead cousin for the entire book bar the last few pages which is gross esp as they were brought up as brother and sister really - yuck it made me feel totally icky reading that.
H is suspected of pushing his wife off a cliff because she didn't like living in Greece when in reality she seems to have suffered a breakdown of some kind and jumped (so we are led to believe as real H's don't bump off their wives although they can inadvertently cause their deaths via working too hard so they get kidnapped and die or hit by vehicles while coming to meet hubby's).
There is an OW who is a widow herself and knew the H when he was married but she is abruptly seen off on the last couple of pages too.
h comes to not work for the H as a non governess for the daughter because they like each other and an earthquake has destroyed her accommodation. She will "work" for bed and board to look after the daughter because she wants to not for the H.
Brooding, angst, forced kisses, sharks, earthquakes, sailing, much pagan references and dolphins abound in this along with more brooding for a rather abrupt ending where the H has loved her forever and shes a "woman in love" now and not a "girl in love with love" - colour me underwhelmed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 4, 2016
Another book with super slow build up and a WTH ending...it was pretty much I hate you, I hate you but cannot stop staring at you, then big storm and WHAM, I love you ... Unbelievable. But I love how the exotic Greek isle was brought to live and the secondary cast of family and staff was good. Ariadne was such a precocious child and I really wonder how exactly did her mother die. Miss Violet Winspear really had a problem with endings in her books.
May 30, 2013
eh...a little too much OTT for me, but still fun.
July 9, 2016
Hebe Lawnay is a 20 year old English woman who, after the death of her cousin-slash-lover, travels to the small, idyllic Greek island of Petra where she - of course - meets a handsome but mysterious older man, who is rumoured to have killed his wife. A predictable Pride and Prejudice-esque plot, though Nikos Stephanos really is a terrible misogynistic brute who physically assaults our protagonist on multiple occasions. He can go suck eggs: the real romance here is between Hebe, Petra (the island), and Ariadne, Nikos' adorable small daughter. She falls quickly and deeply in love with both, and through the clichéd, heavily romantic prose, the reader does too.
I never usually read romance, let alone incredibly cheesy 1970s Mills & Boon, but I'm glad I chanced upon this book in the street. A light (if you glaze over the violently forced kisses) and fun summer read, which has left me dreaming of a sumptuous picnic on an idyllic Greek beach with Hebe, Ariadne and Curly.
I never usually read romance, let alone incredibly cheesy 1970s Mills & Boon, but I'm glad I chanced upon this book in the street. A light (if you glaze over the violently forced kisses) and fun summer read, which has left me dreaming of a sumptuous picnic on an idyllic Greek beach with Hebe, Ariadne and Curly.
August 24, 2022
When her beloved Dion — her cousin, her first and only love — died, life seemed to end for Hebe too. But she had to try to forget her grief — though she could never forget Dion — and so she went to Greece, and found herself on the lovely, wild island of Petra. There she met Nikos Stephanos, a man as different from Dion as he could possibly be, but who was to have just as great an influence on Hebe's life. But a dark tragedy lay over Nikos's life. What was the secret behind his unhappy marriage? Had he, as the islanders believed, driven his wife to her death? Could Hebe help him in any way — or would Nikos only bring more unhappiness into her life too?
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August 16, 2018I LOVED IT
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews