A review by leslielu67
Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières

5.0

EVERYTHING this guy writes is fantastic and well-researched. This tells the story of the inhabitants of a small Ottoman town in Turkey, spanning from before WWI to the few years after it, as the new Turk state continues to battle new and old foes after the general armistace of 1918. The town's inhabitants include Christians, Muslims, Armenians and Greeks. Intervening chapters follow Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, as he rises through the Ottoman army and starts his political career. What I know of Turkey during WW1 was essentially through the movie Gallipoli, so this filled in so many gaps. Beautiful, brutal, funny and heartbreaking. Couple it with The Dust that Falls from Dreams, de Bernieres' wonderful story of Londoners during WW1, the fledgling (ha!) RAF, and the beginning of the breakdown of social class barriers brought on by the conflict.