Louis De Bernieres: Brilliance before Captain Corelli

For many, the name 'Louis de Bernieres', may be accompanied by thoughts of  his most famous novel, 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin'. Even more disturbing, this may lead to musings on the acting abilities of Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruise.

Now not to mislead, I loved the Captain and his Mandolin (less so the movie if I am honest), but my all time favourite Louis De Bernieres work is his series based in a war torn and drug riddled South American Republic (Colombia?), comprising of The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord, (my personal favourite) and The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman.

Somehow, although set in a country rife with harrowing torture and violence, De Bernieres has created a series that is exuberant and fantastical, offering the reader characters that are so engaging you wish they were real.

Magical Black panthers prowl the pages, where individual (and gorilla) bravery in the face of frankly evil drug cartels have you cheering, laughing and sometimes crying with the horror of if all.
In all three books, the characters experience passion, death and redemption, taking the reader on an emotional journey littered with joyful highs and confronting lows.

Louis uses magical devices to blunt the impact of the man made evil, and

humour so we can laugh at the inept and corrupt government, while feeling proud of the dignity, ingenuity and courage of the main protagonists ( I dare you not to love Senor Vivo).


Not many authors can so successfully pair horror and heartbreak with love, humour and hope. Although an older series, this is still so well worth a read I had to share it on LMK.




These wonderful books are available for purchase from Amazon,com via the following link:

The works of Louis de Bernieres