Notwithstanding [Paperback]

As the world around it marches forward, the bucolic English village of Notwithstanding remains unchanged. It is, as it always has been, a place of pubs and cricket pitches, where local eccentrics—a retired colonel who has eschewed clothes, a spiritualist living with the ghost of her husband, and a dog named Archibald Scott-Moncrieff—almostfit in. In this delightfully evocative collection of stories, in which a young couple falls in and out of love by letter alone, an eleven-year-old boy battles a monstrous fish, and a man of the cloth has a premonition of death, Louis de Bernières conjures up a rural idyll long since forgotten. Funny, bittersweet, and deeply felt,Notwithstandingis the bestselling author ofCorelli’s Mandolinat his most enchanting.“The experience of reading this collection is rather like being wrapped in a tartan blanket and handed a nice mug of cocoa.” —The Guardian

“Sketches of lives that settle into the atmosphere of a place and make it unique. . . . The creator of Captain Corelli is fond of an exotic setting and he has found one in his own backyard.” —The Times (London)

“A timely examination of the charming and, at times, heart-wrenchingly sad aspects of English village life. . . . De Bernières’ alchemy is to turn characters who seem destined for farce into nuanced beings.” —Financial Times
 
“Comic, benignly forgiving and shot through with threads of nostalgic regret. De Bernières has a big heart.” —The Independent

“An amusing collection. . . . [De Bernières] perfectly captures the peculiarities, the quirks, and the tenor of a particular time and place with good humor and great affection. Readers will enjoy being transported to Notwithstanding, where they will be introduced to a variety of colorful characters, whose lives are linked tl3