The Island Getaway: The perfect new escapist read from the bestselling author

by Lucy Diamond

432 pages, Paperback

Published July 17, 2025

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

First of all, a confession. My name isn’t really Lucy Diamond at all, it’s Sue Mongredien. I’ve used a pen name because ‘Diamond’ is a lot easier to spell and pronounce than ‘Mongredien’ and also because I’ve written lots of children’s books too and wanted to keep the genres separate. (There is actually another Lucy Diamond on Amazon who writes religious children’s books. That isn’t me, though.)

I was born in 1970 and grew up in Nottingham. I read English at Leeds University then moved to London and worked for various publishers before I packed it all in to go travelling around the world for a year and a half. When I came back to the UK, I worked in publishing again, then moved to the BBC. I now live in Bath with my husband and three young children and divide my time between writing and looking after them. You can have a look at my children’s books here.

Favourite things: beaches, holidays, chocolate, wine, reading, Green Wing, bubble baths, sunshine, hearing my children laugh, babysitters

Favourite books: The Magus (John Fowles), The Edible Woman (Margaret Atwood), The Secret History (Donna Tartt), The Colour of Memory (Geoff Dyer)

Reviews

[Cornishd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I choose this book for a holiday I was taking alone in Madeira.
I thought it was the prefect read for me whilst lying in the sun by the pool. I love a bit of sun sea and romance in a book, and this gave me that!
I am the sort of person who loves reading a book set in a cold climate in winter or when skiing and vice versa when it’s hot.

I enjoyed how the book touched on many different characters and I found myself imagining how they may all join up at the end.
I felt invested in many of the people in the hotel be it holiday makers or staff and loved following their stories.
The descriptions of the Greek island put me right there. Gorgeous!
It was a typical holiday read with no real themes or depth but the love stories told within were sweet and captivating.
A good light holiday read. Recommended!

[Brianna Norman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a four star read for me. I read it while listening to the audiobook and absolutely loved it. The voice artist did a brilliant job by enticing you in the story and each character. You follow around 6 to 7 different point of views of people attending the hotel or staff members at the hotel and how their stories connect and intertwine. This is a different book than I would usually pick by absolutely fell in love with it. It’s a perfect one to read end of August early September.

[jill hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read , if you like stories that flit from one character to another then this book is for you. I wasn’t sure about it but the more I read it the more enjoyable it was . How lives entwine , and how love stories enfold , a little bit of sadness also , but happily everyone has a happy ending to their stories

[Stella Drager · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was good but took a while to read 400 pages. Kinda like the white lotus shows its set at a resort with very different types of ppl who all cross paths kinda a coming of age book- good beach read

[Isobel Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. Great characters and well written. Having visited beautiful Kefalonia several times it was lovely to read about places I’d been to. Well researched!

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow story with nice ending. Confusing as lots of different characters every chapter. Difficult to follow.

[Margot Vanderstraeten · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a precious story this was. Great read from Lucy.