Louis de Bernières is the bestselling author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best Book in 1995. His most recent books are So Much Life Left Over, The Dust That Falls From Dreams and The Autumn of the Ace, the short story collection Labels, the children's book Station Jim and the poetry collection The Cat in the Treble Clef.

"A funny, astute and moving depiction of a charming vanished England" -- Corrine Buxton BBC Countryfile "A delightful collection...exquisitely told" -- Clare Colvin Daily Mail "Comic, benignly forgiving and shot through with threads of nostalgic regret" Independent "A timely examination of the charming and, at time, heart-wrenchingly sad aspects of English village life...testament to the rude health of the author's own imagination" -- Adam O'Riordan Financial Times "The creator of Captain Corelli is fond of an exotic setting and he has found one in his own backyard... The stories are sketches of lives that settle into the atmosphere of a place and make it unique" -- Kate Saunders The Times