num_pages: 534
description: Extravagant, inventive, emotionally sweeping, Captain Corelli's Mandolin is the story of a timeless place that one day wakes up to find itself in the jaws of history. The place is the Greek island of Cephallonia, where gods once dabbled in the affairs of men and the local saint periodically rises from his sarcophagus to cure the mad. Then the tide of World War II rolls onto the island's shores in the form of the conquering Italian army.Caught in the occupation are Pelagia, a willful, beautiful young woman, and the two suitors vying for her love: Mandras, a gentle fisherman turned ruthless guerilla, and the charming, mandolin-playing Captain Corelli, a reluctant officer of the Italian garrison on the island. Rich with loyalties and betrayals, and set against a landscape where the factual blends seamlessly with the fantastic, Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a passionate novel as rich in ideas as it is genuinely moving.
language: English
title: The Care of Houseplants
titlecomplete: The Care of Houseplants
characters: Mandras, Antonio Corelli, Dr Iannis, Pelagia
genres: Classics, Historical, World War II, Novels, War, Romance, Historical Fiction, Greece, Literature, Fiction
ratings_count: 85468
places: Kefalonia, Greece
awards: awardedAt: 788947200000
name: Commonwealth Writers' Prize
category: Best Book Overall
publisher: Vintage U.K. Random House