The story tells that, over the years, Alexis found that her mother always guarded her past too much, not only planting roots, but also stepping on the soil.
Alexis decided to go public with her mother's unknown past.
She came to Buracas in the Aegean Sea and landed on a desolate island named Spinalonga. This is a forbidden area, a forbidden area that scares Buracas, the Aegean Sea and even the whole of Europe to death, and also a forbidden area for mothers. Spinalonga- leprosy quarantine area.
The protagonist of the novel is Alexis' ancestor, and tells the story of family legend and love entanglement. The story is heavy and sad. It focuses on all kinds of discrimination suffered by leprosy patients and the story of leprosy patients rebuilding their hopes and homes on spinalonga Island. When the residents of the island are cured and are about to leave the island, they will face the ruthlessness of society. Who can accept them?
At the same time, another main line of the story is the family story of Alexis' ancestor Elena, which shows the secular pretensions and Elena's efforts to start a new life on the island after her illness. Although Elena was buried in Spinalonga forever and failed to see her two daughters marry into the rich family, the tragedy did not end. Elena's eldest daughter Anna is a powerful, vain and unfilial person. After she married into a rich family, she was cold to her father and sister and tried to please the rich and noble. Anna's sister Maria devoted herself to housework and taking care of her father, an old fisherman who delivered goods for spinalonga. By chance, Maria met her brother-in-law's younger brother, Anori, who fell in love with Maria at first sight and pursued her crazily. At the same time, she was entangled with Anna. Just as Arnold was going to marry Maria, Maria was diagnosed with leprosy and was silently sent to Spinalonga. So human nature was released, and Arnold pretended to be sad, but continued to pester Anna. Maria started a new life on the island and didn't write to her father to encourage him. Ten years later, Maria recovered, returned to Buracas with the islanders and married the doctor on the island. Anna was invited to their wedding, and when everyone was happy to celebrate, Anna's husband made it clear. He knew that his and Anna's son was not his, but Arnold's. Anna collapsed in an instant, a gunshot, and the news that Anna's husband killed his wife spread all over the village.
At the end of the story, Maria adopted Anna's daughter and named her Sophia. Sophia escaped from the past to avoid her mother's debauchery and her father was called a murderer by outsiders. Alexis is her daughter.
I think the greatest charm of this sad novel lies in the fact that there is always hope in the saddest plot. Even in that "filthy and desolate" ominous place, you can always find brilliant flowers.
The author tries to make people feel the sadness of life from unpredictable conflicts and broken fragments, from the heartbreaking entanglement of life being destroyed and rebuilt, love being destroyed and hope being reborn. ......