Birds Without Wings - Louis De Bernieres

I had been eagerly awaiting this novel since I read about it in the Guardian Arts pages. My local library ordered a copy in for me and two weeks later I picked up “Birds Without Wings, my hands trembling with anticipation. It is a novel of epic proportions, both in content and size (625 pages). I asked myself “can I read and enjoy such a book?” my concentration has been poor lately. I had also read an interview where the author talked about writing the novel. It took him over eight years, so I decided to limit myself to two to three hours per day and finished it in just over two days. The journey was worth the effort as I got more from the novel by taking my ...

I have read all of Louis de Bernieres' books but none have affected me as much as this one has. All of his books are hugely entertaining. Some, like Captain Corelli’s Mandolin are set against a historical background. Birds Without Wings falls into this category as well. Birds Without Wings is part novel, part historical narrative, part biography. The novel relates to the people of the small town of Eskibahce, on the south-western shore of what is today the modern day state of Turkey. The history is of the events of the Balkans at the beginning of the 20th century. The biography is that of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Father of the state of ...