Laptop stolen from Corelli author

Louis de Bernieres rose to fame with Captain Corelli's Mandolin

The author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin has offered a reward for the return of a stolen laptop containing the first 50 pages of his next novel.

Louis de Bernieres told the Eastern Daily Press the laptop had been taken from his garden shed in Norfolk.

The author was attending the Edinburgh Festival when the burglary happened.

He said he was offering £500 for the laptop's return, and a further reward for information leading to a conviction "of the creeps that stole it".

De Bernieres said he now faced having to rewrite the start of the book A Partisan's Daughter.

"I felt stupid for forgetting to bring the laptop in with me. I think I had been meaning to go back down there," he told the Eastern Daily Press about the theft.

"They also got all my garden tools which is a pain at this time of year."

He added: "I was about 50 pages through a new book and it was going very well, I was on a roll. I mostly feel angry."

De Bernieres had first embarked on A Partisan's Daughter when he was in his 20s, inspired by Yugoslavian friend who had claimed to have worked as a prostitute. He said he was on the fourth rewrite of the book.

"I would like to offer a reward of £500 for the return of this computer, and a further reward of the same amount for any information that leads to the conviction of the creeps that stole it," he told the newspaper.

The author shot to fame with Captain Corelli's Mandolin, which became a critically-acclaimed bestseller before it was adapted for the big screen.