Of Love and Desire

Of Love and Desire

Summary

Of Love and Desire is a rich collection of love poems from Louis de Bernières, written over a lifetime, and capturing its many forms – from rapture, infatuation, urgency, to sorrow, heartache and disillusion.

Poetry was de Bernières’ first and greatest literary love, a passion evident in the musicality and emotion of his poems, which are full of stories and the truth of lived experience. This, his second collection, bears the mark of many influences, from the classical Persian poets, to Neruda, to Quintus Smyrnaeus, to Brian Patten.

Beautifully illustrated by Donald Sammut, this is an indispensable companion on the lover’s journey.

Reviews

  • An unexpected delight…[de Bernieres] is a gifted poet… There are poems in this collection that certainly bear comparison with the greats… Here (beautifully illustrated by Donald Sammut) is lost love and the sadness of memory transformed into words that glitter – mined like jewels from the heart.
    Bel Mooney, Daily Mail

About the authors

Louis de Bernières

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 The Dust That Falls From Dreams, So Much Life Left Over 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.
Learn More

Donald Sammut (Illustrator)

Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more