Birds Without Wings

By Louis de Bernières

Subjects: World War, 1914-1918 -- Turkey -- Fiction., Fathers and sons, City and town life in fiction, Fiction, war & military, Historical Fiction, World War, 1914-1918 in fiction, Christianisme, World War, 1914-1918, Islam, Islam in fiction, Turkey, fiction, Vie urbaine, Large type books, Fiction, historical, Fiction, historical, general, Romans, nouvelles, Relations, Griechisch-Türkischer Krieg, Feindschaft, Fathers and sons, fiction, World war, 1914-1918, fiction, Fiction, interfaith relations, Fiction, religious, Christianity, Social conditions, City and town life, Soldiers in fiction, History, Fathers and sons in fiction, Bevölkerung, Soldiers, Historical Romance, Pères et fils, Turkey in fiction, Kleinstadt

Description: Birds Without Wings is a novel by Louis de Bernières, written in 2004. Narrated by various characters, it tells the tragic love story of Philothei and Ibrahim. It also chronicles the rise of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the 'Father of the Turkish Nation'. The overarching theme of the story covers the impact of religious intolerance, over-zealous nationalism, and the war that often results. The characters are unwittingly caught up in historical tides outside of their control. The book's title is taken from a saying by one of the characters, Iskander the Potter, "Man is a bird without wings, and a bird is a man without sorrows." The book includes a vivid and detailed description of the horrors of life in the trenches during World War I. Some of the characters are also present in the author's earlier novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin.