Corelli's Mandolin (1994; first published in England as Captain Corelli's Mandolin) by Louis de Bernieres (1954- ) deals chiefly with the German occupation, but it slides inevitably into the civil war. Set on the island of Cephallonia just before the Italian invasion of Greece, the novel first focuses on Pelagia, the daughter of the skilled, humane, and somewhat ironical Dr. Iannis. She falls in love with Mandras the fisherman and is soon engaged to him, but the war intrudes, and Mandras goes off to join ELAS. We also see events through the eyes of the Italian soldier, Carlo Guercio, homosexual, immensely strong, gentle, and the most heroic figure in the novel. Through him, the hypocrisy, ineptness, and brutal cynicism of the Italian invasion, which soon becomes a fiasco, are revealed.

After the German intervention, Italians and their German overseers occupy the island. Carlo becomes the aide of Captain Antonio Corelli, who is quartered in the house of Dr. Iannis and his daughter. Corelli is a disillusioned patriot, a lover of music, and, above all, a decent human being. In spite of her persistent refusal to give aid and comfort to the enemy, Pelagia falls in love with him as she falls out of love with Mandras. The fisherman himself has come under the sway of ELAS leader Hector, who takes orders directly from Aris Veloukhiotis. The guerrilla leader, responsible for numerous atrocities, is treacherous, petty, and far more interested in personal gain and in jockeying for position in postwar Greece than in fighting the Nazis. His encounter with the historical figure Colonel Myers makes the case against the leftist guerrillas in its strongest form.

When Italy surrenders to the Allies in 1943, the Italians, who vastly outnumber the Germans on the island, are betrayed by the indifference of the British and the incompetence of their own officers. When Germans arrive in force, most of the Italians are executed. Carlo dies protecting Corelli with his body. Severely wounded, but alive, Corelli is tended to by Iannis and his daughter and is finally smuggled off the island by the British.

With the liberation, Mandras returns to claim his betrothed, but her contempt and that of his mother lead him to suicide. The novel now moves at a quicker pace toward its conclusion. Pelagia adopts an abandoned baby whom she names Antonia. Corelli, returning, sees her with the baby and assumes Pelagia has a new love. Only at the novel's conclusion are they reunited.

Bernieres's lively prose and the witty edge that hovers between satire and tragedy won the novel critical acclaim, but the author's anger at the Greek Left produces a politically distorted version of events, not so much by exaggerating the excesses of the Communists, but by ignoring the abuses of the Greek right and the heavy-handed intervention of the Allies in Greek politics.

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