Captain Corelli's Mandolin, released simultaneously as Corelli's Mandolin in the United States, is a 1994 novel written by Louis de Bernières which takes place on the Greek island of Cephallonia during the Italian and German occupation of World War II. The main characters are Antonio Corelli, an Italian captain, and Pelagia, the daughter of the local physician, Dr. Iannis. An important event in the novel is the massacre of Italian troops by the Germans in September 1943—the Italian Acqui Division had refused to surrender and fought the Germans for nine days before running out of... ammunition. Some 1,500 Italian soldiers died in the fighting, 5,000 were massacred after surrendering and the rest shipped to Germany—although 3,000 drowned when the ship carrying them hit a mine. Captain Corelli's Mandolin explores many varieties of love. We see the initial lust-based love between Pelagia and Mandras, which burns out as a result of the war, and the change it prompts in both of them. Corelli and Pelagia's slow-developing love is the central focus of the novel. Love is described by Dr.
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| Author: | Louis de Bernières |
| Genre: | War novel, Romance novel, Historical novel |
| Year published: | 1993 |
| Number of editions: | 1 |