Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Couverture souple

THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER

It is 1941 and Captain Antonio Corelli, a young Italian officer, is posted to the Greek island of Cephallonia as part of the occupying forces. At first he is ostracised by the locals, but as a conscientious but far from fanatical soldier, whose main aim is to have a peaceful war, he proves in time to be civilised, humorous - and a consummate musician.

When the local doctor's daughter's letters to her fiance - and members of the underground - go unanswered, the working of the eternal triangle seems inevitable. But can this fragile love survive as a war of bestial savagery gets closer and the lines are drawn between invader and defender?

'Hypnotic...a vast tapestry woven in tiny, colourful, intricate detail...a graphic and moving commentary on the futility of war. This magical book stayed in my head long after I had finished it' Marian Keyes, Irish Times

'A wonderful epic novel...it has made him a name to conjure with. Both on the large and the small scale it is an absorbing and memorable book...the sweep, invention and warmth of the novel carries one effortlessly along' Derwent May, The Times

' Captain Corelli's Mandolin achieves that rare feat of saying something new about war...fusing with remarkable felicity the comic and the tragic, the lyrical and the epic...And without offering easy answers, it poses difficult questions about love and suspicion, trust and betrayal, faith and despair, creativity and destruction' Andre Brink, Times Literary Supplement, International Books of the Year

Robert Powell reads Louis De Bernières’ bestselling novel set in the early days of the second world war, and as heard on BBC Radio 4...

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, 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.