Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Notwithstanding | 2009 | Louis de Bernieres | Buy |
| 2 | Imagining Alexandria | 2013 | Louis de Bernieres | Buy |
| 3 | Of Love and Desire | 2016 | Louis de Bernieres | Buy |
| 4 | The Cat in the Treble Clef | 2018 | Louis de Bernieres | Buy |
| 5 | Labels and Other Stories | 2019 | Louis de Bernieres | Buy |
Louis de Bernieres’ collected works include both short fiction and poetry. Notwithstanding (2009) is a set of linked stories about life in a small English village, drawn from the real community in Surrey where the author settled after the success of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. The stories are gentle and comic, populated by vicars, retired colonels, and assorted English eccentrics.
His poetry collections, Imagining Alexandria (2013), Of Love and Desire (2016), and The Cat in the Treble Clef (2018), cover subjects including romantic love, Greek landscapes, cats, music, and the passage of time. De Bernieres is also a keen amateur musician, and musical imagery appears frequently in his verse. Labels and Other Stories (2019) gathers shorter fiction from across his career.
These collections show a side of de Bernieres that readers of his big historical novels might not expect. The poetry in particular is direct and unshowy, often drawing on personal experience rather than the large-scale historical settings of his prose.