Books by Louis de Bernières
“Light Over Liskeard is a dystopian and futuristic story. It’s mostly set on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, which I loved. The conjuring of that landscape, especially the wildlife, was beautifully done. We don’t know how far in the future this world is, but it’s dominated by artificial intelligence, and the effect that has had on human beings is different for each individual person. It’s about a character called Q, who is a quantum cryptographer and works for the government. You get this sense that there’s an impending crisis for humanity.” Read more...
“Set in an idyllic village in southern Turkey, where Muslims and Christians live as neighbours before World War One rips them apart, this is a surprisingly moving novel about love, war and the nature of patriotism. It is also an excellent insight into the social fabric of the late Ottoman Empire, the Battle of Gallipoli from the Turkish perspective and the life of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of Turkey. Possibly my favourite novel of all time.” Read more...
Interviews where books by Louis de Bernières were recommended
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1
Birds Without Wings
by Louis de Bernières -
2
Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430-1950
by Mark Mazower -
3
The Complete Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
by Mary Montagu & Robert Halsband (editor) -
4
Twice a Stranger: The Mass Expulsions That Forged Modern Greece and Turkey
by Bruce Clark -
5
The Bridge on the Drina
by Ivo Andrić
Books on the Ottoman Empire, recommended by Alev Scott
Books on the Ottoman Empire, recommended by Alev Scott
The Ottoman Empire rose to prominence towards the end of the medieval period, stunning the world with its rapid expansion and causing the collapse of the Byzantine Empire with its conquest of Constantinople in 1453. It would carry on being a major player in the world until the end of World War I. Here journalist Alev Scott, author of the very wistful travelogue, Ottoman Odyssey, recommends books that help bring alive an empire that was multicultural and multireligious, and whose legacy can still be felt around the Balkans, the Middle East and parts of Africa.
The Best Adventure Novels: The 2024 Wilbur Smith Prize, recommended by Emma Styles
If you love adventure stories, you’ll be delighted to hear that there’s a book prize fully focused on them. Novelist Emma Styles, one of the judges for the 2024 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, talks us through the shortlist for best published novel, from pirates in the Caribbean to World War II Italy, from Victorian London to a dystopian future Britain—by way of Nigeria and Tbilisi, Georgia.
