A beautiful gift book of poems on the subjects of love and desire by one of the UK's best-loved writers. Following the success of his first poetry collection, Imagining Alexandria, Louis de Bernières' second collection offers much of the poetry that he has written about love and desire throughout his life, under the influence, it seems, of everybody from the classical Persian poets, to Neruda, to Quintus Smyrnaeus, to Brian Patten, sometimes passionate and romantic, sometimes cynical and angry. He captures all the moods from rapture to sorrow, to disillusion. Poetry was Louis de Bernières' first and greatest literary love, and he is particularly interested in exploiting the natural musicality of language in order to create the emotional effect for which he believes poetry ought to be striving. As you might expect from someone who has made his name as a storyteller his poetry is packed with narrative. His hope is, that in reading these poems, you will find your own experiences echoed and reflected, and that they will cause you to think all over again about what they mean. LOUIS DE BERNIERES is the best-selling author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Best Book in 1995. His most recent books are Birds Without Wings and A Partisan's Daughter, a collection of stories Notwithstanding and a collection of poetry, Imagining Alexandria. |