1941 and a young Italian officer is posted to the Greek island of Kefalonia as part of the occupying force. Although he is initially ostracised by the locals in time he wins them over with his humour, civility and, more especially, his music.

Pelagia, the daughter of the doctor who Corelli is billeted to, is engaged to a fisherman who can call up dolphins, but when her fiance joins the resistance and cannot be reached, an eternal triangle seems unavoidable. "An emotional, funny, stunning novel which swings with wide smoothness between joy and bleakness...it is lyrical and angry, satirical and earnest" >The Observer<.