Louis De Bernieres

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BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR


Title: Senor Vivo And The Coca Lord: Description:
A sequel to "The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts". Dionisio Vivo, a young South American lecturer in philosophy, leads a charmed life in a world where the supernatural is routine. He is insulated from attacks by the local coca lord's hit-men, by a sense of justice and pig-headed integrity.

Title: Red Dog: Description:
Set in Western Australia, these stories relate to the bronze statue to Red Dog outside the town of Dampier. A beautiful book with charming illustrations.

Title: Captain Corelli's Mandolin: Description:
When the Axis powers reach the Greek island of Cephallonia, a young Italian captain is billeted in the doctor's house. Captain Corelli turns out to be an accomplished musician, and for a while the war seems to suit them well. But then the brutality of the conflict catches up with them.

Title: Captain Corelli's Mandolin: Description:
Captain Corelli's Mandolin is set in the early days of the second world war, before Benito Mussolini invaded Greece. Dr Iannis practices medicine on the island of Cephalonia, accompanied by his daughter, Pelagia, to whom he imparts much of his healing art. Even when the Italians do invade, life isn't so bad--at first anyway. The officer in command of the Italian garrison is the cultured Captain Antonio Corelli, who responds to a Nazi greeting of "Heil Hitler" with his own "Heil Puccini", and whose most precious possession is his mandolin. It isn't long before Corelli and Pelagia are involved in a heated affair--despite her engagement to a young fisherman, Mandras, who has gone off to join Greek partisans. Love is complicated enough in wartime, even when the lovers are on the same side. And for Corelli and Pelagia, it becomes increasingly difficult to negotiate the minefield of allegiances, both personal and political, as all around them atrocities mount, former friends become enemies and the ugliness of war infects everyone it touches. British author Louis de Bernières is well known for his forays into magical realism in such novels as The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord and The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman. Here he keeps it to a minimum, though certainly the secondary characters with whom he populates his island--the drunken priest, the strongman, the fisherman who swims with dolphins--would be at home in any of his wildly imaginative Latin American fictions. Instead, de Bernières seems interested in dissecting the nature of history as he tells his ever-darkening tale from many different perspectives. Captain Corelli's Mandolin works on many levels, as a love story, a war story and a deconstruction of just what determines the facts that make it into the history books.

Title: Birds Without Wings: Description:
"Birds without Wings" tells of the inhabitants of a small coastal town in South West Anatolia in the dying days of the Ottoman empire: Iskander the Potter and fount of proverbial wisdom; Philothei, a Christian girl of legendary beauty who is courted almost from infancy by Ibrahim the Goatherd, their great love culminating in tragedy and madness; Karatavuk and Mehmetcik, childhood friends who play in the hills above the town, Mehmetcik teaching the illiterate Karatavuk how to write Turkish in Greek letters; the two holy men of different faiths, Father Kristoforos and Abdulhamid Hodja, who greet each other with the words 'infidel efendi'; the landlord Rustem Bey, his wife's adultery and stoning, and his journey to Istanbul in search of a Circassian mistress. It tells also of Mustafa Kemal, the man of destiny, who by virtue of military genius and sheer bloody-mindedness defeats the Franks and reshapes the whole region in his image. When jihad is declared against the Allies the young men of the town are sent to war. Karatavuk soon finds himself at Gallipoli where he experiences the intimate brutality of trench warfare, the loss of many comrades and of his own innocence. As the great world intrudes, the twin scourges of religion and nationalism lead to forced marches and massacres, hunger grips the town and the peaceful fabric of life is destroyed. Epic, yet profoundly humane, "Birds without Wings" is a glorious novel by one of our finest and best-loved novelists.

Title: The Troublesome Offspring Of Cardinal Guzman: Description:
When the economy of his small South American country collapses, President Veracruz joins his improbable populace of ex-soldiers, former guerillas, unfrocked priests and reformed - though by no means inactive - whores, in a bizarre search for sexual fulfilment. But for Cardinal Guzman, a man tormented by his own private demons, their stupendous, hedonistic fiestas represent the epicentre of all heresies. Heresies that must be challenged with a horrifying new inquisition destined to climax in a spectacular confrontation... About the Author Louis de Bernieres is most famous for Captain Corelli's Mandolin which is consistently at the top of all bestseller charts - and has been for three years. The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord and The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman were his first three novels. He lives in London. Richard Griffiths is highly respected for his work in theatre, television and film. His film credits range from CHARIOTS OF FIRE, to GOLDENEYE; he has recently completed a very successful run of KATHERINE HOWARD in Chichester, and is renowned for his portrayal of Henry Crabb in BBC TV's PIE IN THE SKY. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Title: The War Of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts: Description:
When the spoilt and haughty Dona Constanza tries to divert a river to fill her swimming pool, she starts a running battle with the locals. The skirmishes are so severe that the Government dispatches a squadron of soldiers led by the fat, brutal and stupid Figuer as to deal with them. Despite visiting plagues of laughing fits and giant cats upon the troops, the villagers know that to escape the cruel and unusual tortures planned for them, they must run. Thus they plan to head for the mountains and start a new and convivial civilisation. About the Author Louis de Bernieres is most famous for Captain Corelli's Mandolin which is consistently at the top of all bestseller charts - and has been for three years. The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord and The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman were his first three novels. He lives in London. Richard Griffiths is highly respected for his work in theatre, television and film. His film credits range from CHARIOTS OF FIRE, to GOLDENEYE; he has recently completed a very successful run of KATHERINE HOWARD in Chichester, and is renowned for his portrayal of Henry Crabb in BBC TV's PIE IN THE SKY. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Title: Birds Without Wings: Description:
A novel set against the background of the collapsing Ottoman empire and the subsequent bitter struggle between the Greeks and the Turks.