Individual lives thrown into relief against the vast sweep of history. A bit heavy going at first, but well worth perservering for the love story alone - never mind the perspective of life on Kefalonia during WW2.
Extract
One day he left his pistol on the table. She thought how easy it would be for her to purloin it, and perhaps blame it on an opportunistic thief. It came to her that she could actually shoot him when he came throught the door, and then run away to join the andartes with it. The trouble was that he was no longer just an Italian, he was Captain Antonio Corelli, who played the Mandolin and was very charming and respectful.