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Mandolin Overboard
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Pity the plight of the super bestseller. Louis de Bernières was 39 when his fourth novel, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, became a surprise global phenomenon, selling around 3.5 million copies in 24 languages. Now, at 49, he's just getting around to publishing the follow-up, Birds Without Wings (Secker & Warburg). What has he done in the intervening decade? A few short stories, a biblical preface, and a lame children's novella called Red Dog. With his fans clamoring for more of the same, and detractors eager to prove him a one-hit wonder, it's little surprise that he told a reporter in April 2001...