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Reading lists

20 books everyone should read in their forties

Photograph of Louis de Berneries beside graphic of three book jackets: Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Light Over Liskeard, and The Dust that Falls from Dreams

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Where to start reading Louis de Bernières’ books

The Autumn of the Ace

Louis de Bernières is the master of historical fiction which makes you both laugh and cry. This book follows an unforgettable family after the Second World War.

De Bernieres is a singular, cherishable voice.

Louis de Bernieres is in the direct line that runs through Dickens and Evelyn Waugh... he has only to look into his world, one senses, for it to rush into reality, colours and touch and taste

[The Autumn of the Ace is] penned with de Bernières's quiet, deprecating humour and sharp observation

Both heart-warming and heart-wrenching, this novel will captivate the senses and make you laugh as well as cry. Brimming with incredible, quirky characters and beautiful, lyrical writing, The Autumn of the Ace is the ideal book for lovers of historical fiction

Louis de Bernières is the bestselling author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best Book in 1995. His most recent books are So Much Life Left Over, The Dust That Falls From Dreams and The Autumn of the Ace, the short story collection Labels, the children's book Station Jim and the poetry collection The Cat in the Treble Clef.

'De Bernieres is a singular, cherishable voice' Mail on Sunday 
 
From the master of historical fiction, this book follows war hero Daniel Pitt and his unforgettable family after the Second World War. 
 
Some bonds are hard to break... 
 
Daniel Pitt was an RAF fighter in the First World War and an espionage agent for the SOE in the Second. Now the conflicts he faces are closer to home. 
 
Daniel's marriage has fractured beyond repair and Daniel's relationship with his son, Bertie, has been a failure since Bertie was a small boy. 
 
But after his brother Archie's death, Daniel is keen for new perspectives. He first travels to Peshawar to bury Archie in the place he loved best, and then finds himself in Canada, avoiding his family and friends back in England. Daniel and Bertie's different experiences of war, although devastating, also bring with them the opportunity for the two to reconnect. 
 
If only they can find a way to move on from the past... 
 
For more adventures with flying ace Daniel Pitt, see The Dust That Falls From Dreams and So Much Life Left Over.

The Dust that Falls from Dreams

A return to the epic romance, heroism, history and warm and eccentric cast of characters that made CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN such an extraordinary hit (2.5 million copies sold). 
 
The very first adventure with flying ace and war hero Daniel Pitt. 
 
In the brief golden years before the outbreak of World War I, Rosie McCosh and her three very different sisters are growing up in an eccentric household in Kent, with their neighbours the Pitt boys on one side and the Pendennis boys on the other. But their days of childhood adventure are shadowed by the approach of the conflict that will engulf them on the cusp of adulthood. 
 
When the boys end up scattered along the Western Front, Rosie is left confused by her love for two young men - one an infantry soldier and one the flying ace Daniel Pitt. Can she, and her sisters, build new lives out of the opportunities and devastations that follow the Great War? 
 
For more adventures with flying ace Daniel Pitt, see The Autumn of the Ace and So Much Life Left Over.

So Much Life Left Over

A wonderful… vividly peopled novel… De Bernières is a generous storyteller

This tragicomic romp has a winning glint in its eye, delivering oodles of 
Downton-esque entertainment as it portrays a changing Britain poised uneasily on the brink of modernity

Richly enjoyable…it is written with such vitality….I would guess that many readers, once they have launched themselves into it, will read it straight through

A heartbreaking story of love, loss and survival following the unforgettable Daniel Pitt. From the multi-million copy bestselling author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin. 
 
Returning from life as a fighter pilot in the First World War, Daniel Pitt is struggling to put the trauma of the Western Front behind him. 
 
As the 1920s dawn, he and his wife Rosie move to a tea plantation in Ceylon with their small daughter to make a fresh start. Yet navigating their new world could test their marriage to its limits. 
 
Back in England, Rosie's sisters are dealing with impossible challenges in their searches for family, purpose and happiness. These are precarious times, and taking unconventional means may be the only way to get what they want. Around them the world changes, and events in Germany take a dark and forbidding turn. And soon there is no going back... 
 
For more adventures with flying ace Daniel Pitt, see The Dust That Falls From Dreams and The Autumn of the Ace.

Labels and Other Stories

Louis de Bernieres is one of our most treasured writers and these stories show his imaginative range and unique storytelling power. The collection includes 'Gunter Weber's Confession' which revisits characters from Captain Corelli.

This entertaining collection of 14 short stories showcases all the familiar tropes, stylistic flourishes and trademark deadpan humour that make their author such a pleasure… A delight

These stories often read like fairy tales for adults, and seem intended, above all, to raise a smile… they do this very nicely… Labels is an amusing and clever story, its absurdist tone well fitted to its subject

Louis de Bernieres is a very genial observer of human folly. These stories are warm and witty, peopled with fallible characters at the mercy of their own prejudices and insecurities

De Bernieres is a singular, cherishable voice

Transporting us to all corners of the globe, the tales in Louis de Bernières’ worldly and entertaining collection Labels and Other Stories feature a cast of unlikely and unforgettable heroes who can be found collecting luxury tinned cat-food labels, posting fish to the President, falling in love with dolphin deities and dining with Brazilian street thieves. And in ‘Gunter Weber's Confession’, we return once more to the Greek island of Captain Corelli's Mandolin and its much-loved characters. 
 
Full of wit, charm and warmth, Labels and Other Stories shows the imaginative range and unique storytelling power of one of our msot treasured writers.

A perfect heartwarming Christmas gift for children and adults

Station Jim

A perfect heartwarming gift for children and adults

A heartwarming tale about a mischievous dog who works on the steam trains. Beautifully illustrated, it is the perfect gift.

A charming collection of stories with beautiful illustrations

Louis de Bernières (Author) 
Louis de Bernières is the bestselling author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best Book in 1995. His most recent books are So Much Life Left Over, The Dust That Falls From Dreams and The Autumn of the Ace, the short story collection Labels, the children's book Station Jim and the poetry collection The Cat in the Treble Clef. 
 
Emma Chichester Clark (Illustrator) 
Emma Chichester Clark is one of Britain's best loved children's authors and illustrators. She is the author of the immensely popular Blue Kangaroo series and many other books, and has illustrated books by Roald Dahl, Kevin Crossley-Holland, Peter Dickinson, Michael Morpurgo and, most recently, Quentin Blake.

A heartwarming tale about a very special dog. Beautifully illustrated, it is the perfect Christmas gift. 
 
One day, in the days when all the trains were driven by steam, a railway guard found something abandoned on a train... 
 
Mr Ginger Leghorn is used to collecting up umbrellas and other lost property but he's never found a puppy on his train before. He has no intention of keeping it but his five children - Alfie, Arthur, Beryl, Sissy and Albert - have other ideas and Jim is soon a much-loved, but often disruptive, member of the family. 
 
Whether it's his feud with the cat, getting stuck in rabbit-holes, accidentally going to sea, accompanying the children to school or carol singing at Christmas, Jim has a knack of making himself the centre of attention. This little black and tan puppy with his small bright eyes and very waggy rump becomes something of a hero in his town, and even catches the eye of the King himself. 
 
Station Jim is full of Christmas cheer for children and adults alike, and especially dog-lovers. It includes delightful pictures by celebrated illustrator Emma Chichester Clark, the creator of Plumdog.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin

25th anniversary edition of this cherished story of love, loss, war and heroism - from one of our bestselling authors

**AS SEEN ON BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS** 
 
25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION - WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR 
 
'A true diamond of a novel, glinting with comedy and tragedy' Daily Mail 
 
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 over time he proves himself to be civilised, humorous &ndash; and a consummate musician. 
 
When Pelagia, the local doctor's daughter, finds her letters to her fiancé go unanswered, Antonio and Pelagia draw close and 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? 
 
'Louis de Bernières is in the direct line that runs through Dickens and Evelyn Waugh...he has only to look into his world, one senses, for it to rush into reality, colours and touch and taste' Evening Standard

A true diamond of a novel, glinting with comedy and tragedy

A tall tale and a serious work of literature…its reputation suggests that one “should” read it, and so far I would have to agree

Stunning... A high-spirited historical romance...remarkable.

An emotional, funny, stunning novel which swings with wide smoothnes s between joy and bleakness, personal lives and history...it's lyrical and angry, satirical and earnest

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

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

Captain Corelli's Mandolin achieves that rare feat of saying something new about war...fusing with remarkable felicity the cosmic 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

Louis de Bernières is in the direct line that runs through Dickens and Evelyn Waugh...he has only to look into his world, one senses, for it to rush into reality, colours and touch and taste

A master of haunted realism. His best novel yet. He deals with death and love and tragedy... This is a novel to be prized

Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a wonderful, hypnotic novel of fabulous scope and tremendous, iridescent charm - and you can quote me

An enthralling tale of endurance and passion, full of emotional intelligence

25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION - WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR 
 
'A true diamond of a novel, glinting with comedy and tragedy' Daily Mail 
 
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 over time he proves himself to be civilised, humorous &ndash; and a consummate musician. 
 
When Pelagia, the local doctor's daughter, finds her letters to her fiancé go unanswered, Antonio and Pelagia draw close and 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? 
 
'Louis de Bernières is in the direct line that runs through Dickens and Evelyn Waugh...he has only to look into his world, one senses, for it to rush into reality, colours and touch and taste' Evening Standard

Blue Dog

A charming story of a young boy and his dog adventuring through the outback. Prequel to the bestselling Red Dog from the author of global bestseller Captain Corelli's Mandolin - the perfect gift for readers of all ages

The kind of book that changes readers for the better… The love between Mick and Granpa, and the changing landscape they inhabit, are the highlights of this superb story.

[Blue Dog] is the heart-warming, funny, coming-of-age story… This is an irresistible, feel-good, laugh-out-loud tale… It is not an easy place to leave behind.

A young adult novel that will appeal to all ages.

Louis de Bernières is the best-selling author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, Best Book in 1995. His most recent books are The Dust That Falls From Dreams, Birds Without Wings and A Partisan’s Daughter, a collection of stories, Notwithstanding, and two collections of poetry, Imagining Alexandria and Of Love and Desire. He wrote Red Dog in 2001 and was inspired by the upcoming film about his canine hero to write this prequel.

'The kind of book that changes readers for the better' Guardian 
 
When a family tragedy means Mick is sent to the outback to live with his Granpa, it looks as if he has a lonely life ahead of him. The cattle station is a tough place for a child, where nature is brutal and the men must work hard in the heat and dust. However, after a cyclone hits, things change for Mick. Exploring the floodwaters, he finds a lost puppy covered in mud and half-drowned. Mick and his dog immediately become inseparable as they take on the adventures offered by their unusual home, and the business of growing up, together. 
 
In this charming prequel to the much-loved Red Dog, Louis de Bernières tells the moving story of a young boy and his Granpa, and the charismatic and entertaining dog who so many readers hold close to their hearts.

The Girt Pike (Storycuts)

A touching story of success against the odds, loss, and becoming a legend.

Louis de Bernières is the best-selling author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin. His most recent novels are Birds Without Wings and A Partisan's Daughter.

11-year-old Robert is asked by the beautiful Mrs. Rendall to catch the infamous 'Girt Pike' from her pond. Too poor to buy the appropriate fishing rod for the daunting task, Robert fashions his own, proving to himself, Mrs. Rendall and the rest of the village that he is capable of anything. However, it is not all happy endings . . . 
 
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Notwithstanding.

The Death of Miss Agatha Feakes (Storycuts)

The story of the eccentric Agatha Feakes's last day on earth.

Agatha Feakes looks back over her life and experiences, blissfully unaware that is her last day living . . . 
 
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Notwithstanding.

Talking to George (Storycuts)

A touching tale of an unlikely group of characters brought together by the rain and a spider.

John the gardener is disillusioned with his life, past and present. Alan is John's assistant, helplessly in love with Sylvie, the stable girl. These three characters are united by their friendship and by George, the barn spider. 
 
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Notwithstanding.

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.

Louis de Bernières (Author) Louis de Bernières is the bestselling author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best Book in 1995. His most recent books are So Much Life Left Over, The Dust That Falls From Dreams and The Autumn of the Ace, the short story collection Labels, the children's book Station Jim and the poetry collection The Cat in the Treble Clef. Robert Powell (Reader) Robert Powell is known worldwide for his multi-award- winning portrayal of Jesus in Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth. His extensive stage, film and TV career includes Tom Stoppard's Jumpers, the title role in Ken Russell's Mahler, and Richard Hannay in the TV series of the same name as well as the feature film of The Thirty-nine Steps.

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.

Stories from an English Village

Notwithstanding

A funny and heartbreaking new book from one of Britain's favourite and bestselling writers.

A funny, astute and moving depiction of a charming vanished England

A delightful collection...exquisitely told

Comic, benignly forgiving and shot through with threads of nostalgic regret

A timely examination of the charming and, at time, heart-wrenchingly sad aspects of English village life...testament to the rude health of the author's own imagination

The creator of Captain Corelli is fond of an exotic setting and he has found one in his own backyard... The stories are sketches of lives that settle into the atmosphere of a place and make it unique

In these stories de Bernieres casts a loveing eye on the world we have lost and invites you to share its intimacies

Louis de Bernières is the best-selling author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin. His most recent novels are Birds Without Wings and A Partisan's Daughter.

Welcome to the village of Notwithstanding, where a lady dresses in plus fours and shoots squirrels, a retired general gives up wearing clothes altogether, a spiritualist lives in a cottage with the ghost of her husband, and people think it quite natural to confide in a spider that lives in a potting shed. Based on de Bernières' recollections of the village he grew up in, Notwithstanding is a funny and moving depiction of a charming vanished England.

The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman

'A novel of prodigious imagination' Scotland on Sunday

A carnival of pain and pleasure, violence, tenderness, high jinks of every sexual sort, quaint customs and quainter jokes

An extraordinary feat of imagination... a sensuous, often farcical and ultimately optimistic argument for spiritual sanity

Louis de Bernières is the best-selling author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin. His most recent novels are Birds Without Wings and A Partisan's Daughter.

The epic finale of the Latin American trilogy following The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts and Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord 
 
While the economy of his small South American country collapses, President Veracruz joins his improbable populace of ex-soldiers, former guerrillas, 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 daemons, 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... 
 
'An extraordinary feat of imagination... a sensuous, often farcical and ultimately optimistic argument for spiritual sanity' Time Out

A Partisan's Daughter

A beautifully wrought and unlikely love story, shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award: 'Sublimely funny and moving...by the time I'd finished this sleek little novel I'd laughed out loud numerous times and, eventually, cried.' Independent

A triumph - a finely executed little masterpiece

It's a glory...intensely moving...It's a wise and moving novel, perfectly accomplished. It shows that no life is ordinary. It shines fresh light on the nature of love

Sublimely funny and moving...by the time I'd finished this sleek little novel I'd laughed out loud numerous times and, eventually, cried. That's as true a testimony to a book's loveliness as I know

A striking and wise novel, deceptively slight yet emotionally profound

This is a silk stocking of a novel: fragile, light - and yet possessed of surprising tensile strength...making it look this simple is a real art

De Bernieres is a skilful writer, poetic but unforced, who can soothe you like a masseur, telling well-oiled stories of past excitements, and then just when you are drifting off, dexterously tweak a pressure point

A beautifully written and compelling story

De Bernière's mellifluent, clear prose slips through the reader's mind with efficient ease

By the end I was impressed, moved and touched

You'll soon be as captivated by Roza's colourful tale as Chris is

A bitter-sweet story of missed opportunities

Louis de Bernières is the best-selling author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, Best Book in 1995. His most recent books are The Dust That Falls From Dreams, Birds Without Wings and A Partisan’s Daughter, a collection of stories, Notwithstanding, and a collection of poetry, Imagining Alexandria.

A beautiful and unlikely love story about what unites us from the bestselling author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. 
 
Chris is in his forties: bored, lonely, trapped in a loveless, sexless marriage. 
 He's a stranger to the 1970s youth culture of London, a stranger to himself on the night he invites a prostitute into his car. 
 Roza has recently moved to London from eastern Europe. She's in her twenties, but has already lived a life filled with danger, misadventure, romance, and tragedy. And though she's not a prostitute, when she's propositioned by Chris, she gets into his car anyway. 
 
Over the next few months Roza tells Chris the stories of her past. She's a fast-talking Scheherazade, saving her own life by telling it to Chris. And he takes in her tales as if they were oxygen in an otherwise airless world. But is Roza telling the truth? Does it even matter? 
 
 'Sublimely funny and moving’ Independent

Red Dog

Now a major film - the enchanting story of a very remarkable dog from the author of the bestselling Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

De Bernieres brilliantly evokes the red heat of Australian summers.  Heat lifts off the pages: turning them is like opening furnace doors

When I finished the final chapter I immediately extended a sought-after invitation to my dog to spend the night on the bed

It's a novel that will appeal to everyone whether they're dog-lovers or not.

The enchanting story of a very remarkable dog from the author of the bestselling Captain Corelli's Mandolin. 
 
‘In early 1998 I went to Perth in Western Australia in order to attend the literature festival, and part of the arrangement was that I should go to Karratha to do their first ever literary dinner. Karratha is a mining town a long way further north. The landscape is extraordinary, being composed of vast heaps of dark red earth and rock poking out of the never-ending bush. 
 
I imagine that Mars must have a similar feel to it. I went exploring and discovered the bronze statue to Red Dog outside the town of Dampier. I felt straight away that I had to find out more about this splendid dog. A few months later I returned to Western Australia and spent two glorious weeks driving around collecting Red Dog stories and visiting the places that he knew, writing up the text as I went along. I hope my cat never finds out that I have written a story to celebrate the life of a dog.’ Louis de Bernières. 
 
‘If you love Australia it will have you aching for the scent of gums and sight of the Southern Cross, while if you love dogs it is sure to make you highly indulgent towards the one you love’ Observer

Senor Vivo & The Coca Lord

The second novel in Louis de Bernières’ magical, tragic, hilarious trilogy set in a fictional South American country.

Sharp, funny, engaging...de Bernieres is doing for Colombia's drug culture what Tom Sharpe did for apartheid. His approach is flippant, but the purpose behind it is deadly serious

Vibrant, lucid, charged with wild jokes and harrowing scenes smelted with torture...a book which shudders with memorability...satirical and splendid

It's a delightfully mesmerising book. Set in a mythical South American country that's a composite of real South American history and Bernières's fertile imagination, and therefore a perfect companion to take on a south-of-the-border vacation - the book is awash in the realities and flavour of South America and the lunacies of Bernières's genius

Amusing, terrifying and ultimately sobering

‘Sharp, funny, engaging’ Financial Times 
 
 Discover the second gripping novel in Louis de Bernières' satricial tragic, hilarious South American trilogy. 
 
Dionisio Vivo, a South American lecturer in philosophy, is puzzled by the bodies that keep turning up outside his front door. 
 
 To his friend, Ramon, one of the few honest policemen in town, the message is all too clear: Dionisio's letters to the press, exposing the drug barons, must stop; and although Dionisio manages to escape the hit-men sent to get him, he soon realises that others are more vulnerable, and his love for them leads him to take a colossal revenge.

Sunday Morning at the Centre of the World

This is my farewell embrace to the polymorpheus people of Earlsfield, with whom I lived for ten years. Dedicated to the living and dead of Earlsfield, which was definitely the centre of the world when I was living in it.

Taking his inspiration from Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood, Louis de Bernières chose to celebrate his ten years of life in the south London suburb, living above a small shop that had been by turns an outlet for oversized naughty clothes for transvestites, a West Indian hairdressers and a junk shop, by writing of the people that he had known and come to love in his time there. 
 
Brilliantly capturing the myriad voices of modern Britain, with their different rhythms of speech and accents, their humour and their tragedy, jokes and gossip, de Bernières' tour de force takes us to the heart of a community and its spirit - the lives and loves, the tears and the laughter of its people.

Birds Without Wings

'Captivating and compelling. A masterpiece' Independent on Sunday

A more ambitious novel than Captain Corelli, and a better one

A mesmerising patchwork of horror, humour and humanity

A magnificent, poetic, colossal novel... Superbly written... It is, in every sense, a sublime book

His most serious and ambitious achievement to date

Pleasurable... Like Steinbeck, de Bernières deserves praise for his imaginative sympathy

Set against the backdrop of the collapsing Ottoman Empire, Birds Without Wings traces the fortunes of one small community in south-west Anatolia - a town in which Christian and Muslim lives and traditions have co-existed peacefully for centuries. 
 
When war is declared and the outside world intrudes, the twin scourges of religion and nationalism lead to forced marches and massacres, and the peaceful fabric of life is destroyed. Birds Without Wings is a novel about the personal and political costs of war, and about love: between men and women; between friends; between those who are driven to be enemies; and between Philothei, a Christian girl of legendary beauty, and Ibrahim the Goatherd, who has courted her since infancy. Epic in sweep, intoxicating in its sensual detail, it is an enchanting masterpiece. 
 
'A mesmerising patchwork of horror, humour and humanity' Independent

War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts

The first of Louis de Bernieres' magical, tragic, hilarious trilogy set in a fictional South American country.

A very good book indeed, the sharpest and funniest I have read in quite some time

A fat, juicy, tropical fruit of a narrative... There is astonishing landscape. There are numerous good jokes. And, indispensably in such a novel, there is magic

A wonderful mixture of the mythical and the poetic, of the cruel and clinical aspects of life... I have seldom read a finer first novel. It is one to savour and revisit

Sureal and hilarious [...] perfect for anyone lucky enough to be on an South American gap year

‘Surreal and hilarious’ Independent 
 
Enter Louis de Bernières' magical, tragic and hilarious South American odyssey. 
 
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 Figueras 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…

Louis de Bernières

Beguiling...Set in a jollier dystopia than the norm, it tells the tale of “Q”, a cryptographer who takes refuge from the madding crowd in Cornwall

Marked by de Bernieres’ customary light touch and wry humour...This quirky novel is timely... a feelgood story about friendship and love – vintage de Bernieres.

A knockabout satire with twists aplenty

A wonder worthy of Wyndham...wry, wise

The future might look bleak, but Bernière’s dystopia is replete with obscure charm, endearing personalities and flights of fantasy

de Bernières has an undeniable talent for creating an achingly romantic affair from what may appear to be a mundane midlife crisis

In a career that began with a magic realism-inspired Latin American trilogy, took off with the historical romance Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, and has gone down such byways as Red Dog, a rather heartwarming tale of an Australian sheepdog, and Notwithstanding, a collection of determinedly eccentric stories of English village life, De Bernières has shown himself to be full of surprises, conjuring narratives of considerable charm and impressive sweep.

Funny, clever, and optimistic, Light Over Liskeard asks us to consider what really matters in life

[A] heartwarming but also funny novel [that] makes us consider what we should hold precious in our short lives

Sometimes we must look to the past to survive the future. A novel about what really matters in life from the bestselling author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin 
 
Q wants a simpler and safer life. His work as a quantum cryptographer for the government has led him to believe a crisis is imminent for civilisation and he's looking for somewhere to ride out what's ahead. 
 
He buys a ruined farmhouse in Cornwall and begins to build his own self-sufficient haven. Over the course of this quest he meets the eccentric characters who already live on the moors nearby - including the park ranger in charge of the reintroduced lynxes and aurochs that roam the area; a holy man waiting for the second coming on top of a nearby hill; an Arthurian knight on horseback and the amorous ghost of an Edwardian woman who haunts the farmhouse. 
 
As life in the cities gets more complicated, and our systems of electronic control begin to fall apart, Q flourishes in the wild Cornish countryside. His new way of life brings him back in tune with his teenage children, his ex-wife, and his own sense of who he is. He also grows close to Eva, energetic and enchanting, who is committed to her own quest for love and meaning. 
 
In this entertaining and heart-warming novel Louis de Bernières pokes fun at modern mores, and makes us reconsider what is really precious in our short and precarious lives. 
 
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 WILBUR SMITH ADVENTURE WRITING PRIZE*

Louis de Bernières

Books by Louis de Bernières

Series by Louis de Bernières

Latin American Trilogy

Articles featuring Louis de Bernières

20 books everyone should read in their forties

Where to start reading Louis de Bernières’ books

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