  :for the 2001 film, see captain corelli's mandolin (film).  captain corelli's mandolin, released simultaneously in the united states as corelli's mandolin,corelli's mandolin &#91;hardcover&#93; retrieved on 28 november 2010. is a novel of 1994dr jules smith (for the british council), louis de berniÃres (2003), retrieved on 28 november 2010. by the british writer louis de berniÃ¨res, set on the greek island of cephallonia during the italian and german occupation of the second world war. the main characters are antonio corelli, an italian army 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 â the italian acqui division had refused to surrender and had 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 were shipped to germany, of whom 3,000 drowned when the ship carrying them hit a mine. in 2003, the novel was listed at number 19 on the bbc's survey the big read."bbc â the big read". bbc. april 2003, retrieved 19 october 2012 ==synopsis==  the story begins with dr iannis, who practices on the greek island of cephallonia, and lives with his daughter pelagia, whom he has taught to think for herself. the following chapters give insight into the political situation of the time (the second chapter, "the duce" is entirely about mussolini), introduce the reader to various characters such as carlo guercio, a homosexual soldier who goes to fight in albania, and elaborate upon the life of the people of cephallonia. pelagia meets a young fisherman named mandras, and they rapidly become engaged, though pelagia seems more lustful than loving. meanwhile, war has been declared, and madras decides to go fight at the front. pelagia's letters to him go unanswered. in 1941, following the italian invasion of greece, italian and german soldiers are posted to cepha
1994_novels British_novels_adapted_into_films Cephalonia English_novels Italian_occupation_of_Greece_during_World_War_II Novels_by_Louis_de_BerniA"res Novels_set_in_Greece Novels_set_on_islands Secker_&_Warburg_books World_War_II_novels