Lawrence Durrell – författare

Rediscover one of the twentieth century's greatest romances in Lawrence Durrell's seductive tale of four tangled lovers in wartime Egypt that is 'stunning' (André Aciman) and 'wonderful' (Elif Shafak)'A masterpiece.' Guardian'A formidable, glittering achievement.' TLS'One of the great works of English fiction.' Times 'Dazzlingly exuberant ... Superb.' Observer'Brave and brazen ... Lush and grandiose.' Independent 'Legendary ... Casts a spell ... Reader, watch out!' Guardian'Lushly beautiful ... One of the most important works of our time.' NYTBRAlexandria, Egypt. Trams, palm trees and watermelon stalls lie honey-bathed in sunlight; in darkened bedrooms, sweaty lovers unfurl. But in a world trembling on the brink of the Second World War, passion and death are inextricable. When Darley, a penniless schoolteacher, begins an affair with Justine - a married Egyptian woman of unparalleled glamour - their partners, Melissa and Nessim, are sucked into a whirlpool of jealousy and violence. One of the twentieth-century's greatest romances, Lawrence Durrell's scandalous 'investigation of modern love' set the world alight in 1957. Rich in political and sexual intrigue, his epic masterpiece burns just as brightly today. Introduced by Jan Morris, this oomnibus edition collects all four novels together in all their glory.What Readers Are Saying - Justine (Book 1):'Sometimes you discover a new author and know you're going to be friends for life ... One of the most beautiful books I've ever read.''I absolutely adored this book ... I felt sucked into it with an amazing force by the beauty of the words ... The backdrop of 1930s Egypt's literary circles and bohemian relationships is mesmerising ... Breathtaking.''Shimmering and dreamlike ... One of the most beautifully written books I've read ... All of life is here; can't wait for the next one.''Lush, brutal, beautiful ... Durrell captured a place and time that will never exist again.''What makes this novel truly spectacular is the language, the episodic jumps in time, the lush lyricism, and how Durrell so deftly manages to tie this all into both the city of Alexandria and the themes of passion, love, and jealousy. '

Lose yourself in this classic prize-winning memoir of life in 1950s Cyprus on the brink of revolution by the legendary king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu. 'Stunning.' André Aciman 'Masterly ... Casts a spell.' Jan Morris'Invades the reader's every sense ... Remarkable.' Victoria Hislop'These days I am admiring and re-admiring Lawrence Durrell.' Elif Shafak'Our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean.' Richard Holmes'Exceptional ... Revelatory ... A master.' Observer'He writes as an artist, as well as a poet . Profoundly beautiful.' New StatesmanCyprus, 1953. As the island fights for independence from British colonial rule, ancient conflicts between Turkish and Greek Cypriots trouble the glittering Mediterranean waters. Into the brewing political storm enters Lawrence Durrell, yearning for the idyllic island lifestyle of his youth in Corfu.He settles into a dilapidated villa, and with his poet's eye for beauty - and passable Greek - vividly captures the moods and atmospheres of island life in a changing world. Whether collecting folklore or wild flowers, describing the brewing revolution or eccentric local characters, Durrell is a magician with words: and the result is not only a classic travel memoir, but an intimate portrait of a community lost forever.WINNER OF THE DUFF COOPER MEMORIAL PRIZE'Brilliant ... Never for a moment does Durrell lose the poet's touch.' New York Times

Lose yourself in this glorious memoir of the island jewel of Corfu by the king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu.'In its gem-like miniature quality, among the best books ever written.' New York TimesIn his youth, before he became a celebrated writer and poet, Lawrence Durrell spent four transformative years on the island jewel of Corfu, fascinated by the idyllic natural beauty and blood-stained ancient history within its rocky shores.While his brother Gerald collected animals as a budding naturalist - later fictionalised in My Family and Other Animals and filmed as The Durrells in Corfu - Lawrence fished, drank and befriended the local villagers.After World War II catapulted him back into a turmoiled world, Durrell never forgot the wonders of Corfu. Prospero's Cell is his magical evocation of the blazing Aegean landscape, brimming with memories of the places and people that changed him forever.'Cannot be bettered ... A classic ... His words still evoke the magical qualities of the island.' Telegraph'Some writers reinvent their language; others the world. Durrell did both.' André Aciman 'Invades the reader's every sense ... Remarkable.' Victoria Hislop 'These days I am admiring and re-admiring Lawrence Durrell.' Elif Shafak'Our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean.' Richard Holmes 'Corfu could not have found a fitter chronicler.' Daily Telegraph'A charming idyll ... Delightful.' Sunday Times

Lose yourself in this dazzling travelogue of the idyllic Greek Islands by the king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu. 'Incandescent.' André Aciman'A magician.' The Times'Invades the reader's every sense ... Remarkable.' Victoria Hislop 'Nobody knows the Greek islands like Durrell.' New York Times White-washed houses drenched in pink bougainvillea; dazzling seascapes and rugged coastlines; colourful harbours in quaint fishing villages; shady olive and cypress groves; terraces bathed in the Aegean sun ... The Greek islands conjure up a treasure-chest of images - but nobody brings them to life as vividly as the legendary travel writer Lawrence Durrell. It was during his youth in Corfu - which his brother Gerald fictionalised in My Family and Other Animals, later filmed as The Durrells In Corfu - that his love affair with the Mediterranean began. Now, in this glorious tour of the Greek islands, he weaves evocative descriptions of these idyllic landscapes with insights into their ancient history, and shares luminous personal memories of his time in the local communities. No traveller to Greece or admirer of Durrell's magic should miss it.'Masterly ... Casts a spell.' Jan Morris'Charming ... Delightful.' Sunday Times 'Our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean.' Richard Holmes'Like long letters from a civilized and very funny friend - the prose as luminous as the Mediterranean air he loves.' Time

The Avignon Quintet gathers Lawrence Durrell's five kaleidoscopic, Booker Prize-nominated novels - orbiting around the South of France in World War II - into one epic modern classic, one of 'the greatest novels of our time' (Sunday Times).'Durrell is a magician. He juggles with glittering words, he conjures up "cloud capped towers, gorgeous palaces and solemn temples," he entrances, intrigues and impresses.' The TimesAvignon: the kingdom of kings and Popes, capital of the historic South of France, heart of legendary Provence. The entwined lives of a group of friends - and lovers - are transformed forever by the outbreak of World War II. But their dramatic present only plunges them further into the darkness of an ancient past, as they become entangled in buried plots, gnostic cults, religious rituals, and a mysterious hunt for hidden Knight's Templar treasure. From Hitler's Europe to the medieval world, French chateaus to Egyptian deserts, The Avignon Quintet is an epic symphony of ecstasy and terror, madness and memory, passion and death. Consisting of five majestic novels - Monsieur, Livia, Constance, Sebastian and Quinx - it is a wild, wise masterpiece that could only be written by the literary master of his century, Lawrence Durrell.'Entrancing ... Swooning ... Charged with Durrell's strange magic.' Guardian'An enigmatic and secretive work, a cluster of dark passages and gaudy treasure-filled caves ... Inventive gusto and fictive extravagance ... Sensational.' London Review of Books'Splendid ... Reckless all-or-nothing writing.' Sunday Telegraph 'A virtuoso, capable of extraordinary feats.' New York Times 'Pungent and teasing ... There is some insidious power in him that keeps one reading.' ObserverWhat readers are saying:'As if Proust had written Raiders of the Lost Ark ...Templars, gnostics, handsome princes, asylums, madness, Freudians, southern France, Egypt, ancient tombs, castles, exotica, erotica, incest, ghosts, gypsies, ascetics, spies, Nazis, secret societies, bordellos, feasts, Nubian lesbians, assassins disguised as nuns, literary doppelgangers, convents, hidden treasure, suicide, and art.''Mystery, love, incest, war, espionage, gypsies, mysticism, secret rituals: a masterful writer.' 'Magnificent ... An incredible level of writing that should be experienced by everyone who loves modern literature.''A masterpiece ... Unlike anything I've ever read.' 'The master at his peak.' 'The writing is spectacular, unlike anything today.' 'Deeply complex, very clever use of language and gripping. Highly recommended.' 'Hairs suddenly rise on the back of the neck ... Read with a glass of wine.'

Lose yourself in this classic travelogue evoking the Greek island of Rhodes after World War II by the king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu. 'A magician ... Durrell enchants.' The Times 'A lovely book ... Makes people feel happy ... [So] pleasurable.' Observer 'A poet's intoxication with landscape, a humanist's appetite for history, and an eye for character worthy of a novelist . He excites a longing to leave for Rhodes at once.' Sunday TimesWorld War II is finally over, and after four torturous years serving the Crown in Egypt, Lawerence Durrell seeks peace in the landscapes he has loved ever since his youth in Corfu: Mediterranean islands. He is posted to the Greek island of Rhodes, and from his first dip in the dazzling blue Aegean - which jolts his soul awake for the first time in years - he immerses himself in the rhythms and moods of local life, befriending eccentric villagers and quaffing ouzo as through the war was a distant dream. With his dazzling poet's eye and passion for excavating ancient history, Durrell recaptures the mythic Rhodes of legend, of knights and crusades, that lies beneath its war-ravaged surface. It is a place that you will never forget. 'Our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean.' Richard Holmes 'Masterly ... Casts a spell.' Jan Morris 'Incandescent.' André Aciman 'Invades the reader's every sense ... Remarkable.' Victoria Hislop 'Like long letters from a civilized and very funny friend - the prose as luminous as the Mediterranean air he loves.' Time

The British Foreign Office is a timeless institution. Antrobus is the embodiment of everything that makes it what it is. His tales of diplomatic misadventure, accompanied by memorable and witty drawings, make a collection to cherish, for as long as the Foreign Office holds sway over far-flung British interests.'Whatever wars there may be and whatever crises, there will still, please heaven, be the diplomatic corps, with its protocol and formalities and a field of humour which I have never seen better used than in these stories.' John Betjeman

Lose yourself in the thrilling political intrigue and tangled love affairs of wartime Egypt in Durrell's epic modern classic, introduced by bestselling author Elif Shafak (The Forty Rules of Love).An expat schoolteacher has spent years in exile reflecting on his turmoiled love affair with Justine, a glamorous Egyptian wife. Returning to wartime Alexandria, he finds that his old friends have suffered dramatic changes of body, mind, and fortune - and someone whom he has never really known wishes to see him. His affair with Clea, a bisexual artist, not only changes the lovers, but transforms the dead, forever - and heralds a new beginning, just as Lawrence Durrell's intoxicating masterpiece ends. 'Durrell has written about a dozen real love stories, entwined them, and explored them with a truly Proustian ferocity ... Superb.' Observer 'Lushly beautiful ... His style glows ... One of the most important works of our time.' New York Times Book Review'It is hard now to recapture the impact half a century ago of these novels' heat, luxuriance and profanity [or] his descriptions of Alexandria - its beauty, cruelty, menace, mystery, decadence ....' Spectator

Three successive drafts of what became the novel TUNC, edited and published for the first time: "The Village of Turtle-doves", "The Placebo: An Attic Comedy" and "Dactyl".

In 1935, Lawrence Durrell, a young Englishman living on Corfu, wrote enthusiastically to a middle-aged Brooklynite - Henry Miller - of his just published novel "Tropic of Cancer". Miller felt that he had found his ideal reader and responded, thus beginning a correspondence that lasted 45 years.

In this new selection from the poetry of Lawrence Durrell (the first for thirty years), Peter Porter has drawn on the full range of the published work, from A Private Country (1943) to Vega (1973), and has provided a long overdue revaluation of Durrell's poetic career. In his detailed and generous introduction, Porter makes the case for A Private Country as one of the most accomplished debut collections of the twentieth century, and traces Durrell's preoccupations and poetic personality within the wider scene. The selection of poems makes its own strong case for the continuing power and originality of this attractive, metropolitan and wholly individual body of work.

In this new selection from the poetry of Lawrence Durrell (the first for thirty years), Peter Porter has drawn on the full range of the published work, from A Private Country (1943) to Vega (1973), and has provided a long overdue revaluation of Durrell's poetic career. In his detailed and generous introduction, Porter makes the case for A Private Country as one of the most accomplished debut collections of the twentieth century, and traces Durrell's preoccupations and poetic personality within the wider scene. The selection of poems makes its own strong case for the continuing power and originality of this attractive, metropolitan and wholly individual body of work.

Lose yourself in this glorious memoir of the island jewel of Corfu by the king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu.'In its gem-like miniature quality, among the best books ever written.' New York TimesIn his youth, before he became a celebrated writer and poet, Lawrence Durrell spent four transformative years on the island jewel of Corfu, fascinated by the idyllic natural beauty and blood-stained ancient history within its rocky shores.While his brother Gerald collected animals as a budding naturalist - later fictionalised in My Family and Other Animals and filmed as The Durrells in Corfu - Lawrence fished, drank and befriended the local villagers.After World War II catapulted him back into a turmoiled world, Durrell never forgot the wonders of Corfu. Prospero's Cell is his magical evocation of the blazing Aegean landscape, brimming with memories of the places and people that changed him forever.'Some writers reinvent their language; others the world. Durrell did both.' André Aciman 'Invades the reader's every sense ... Remarkable.' Victoria Hislop 'Our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean.' Richard Holmes 'These days I am admiring and re-admiring Lawrence Durrell.' Elif Shafak'Corfu could not have found a fitter chronicler.' Daily Telegraph'A charming idyll ... Delightful.' Sunday Times

Lose yourself in the definitive collection of glorious travel sketches by our century's best loved voyager and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu.'Depicts the brio of Durrell's existence with intoxicating vividness.' New York Times'Much more than just a chronicle of his travels ... Reveals Durrell's honesty, outspokenness, warmth, and extreme sensitivity to people and to the beauty of nature ... Unusual and fascinating.' Library Journal'Excellent, vigorous, exciting, unselfconscious, with a lively, original vocabulary ... Shot through with strength and vitality.' TLSFrom the moment of his birth, Lawrence Durrell was far from home. A British child in India, he was sent to England to receive an education, and by his early twenties had already tired of his native land. With family in tow, he departed for Greece, and spent the rest of his life wandering the world. He traveled not to sight-see but to live, and made homes in Egypt, France, Yugoslavia, and Argentina. Each time he landed, he rooted himself deep into the native soil, taking in not just the sights and sounds of his new land, but the essential character of the country. In this definitive collection of glorious letters and essays, Durrell exhibits the power of poetic observation that made his travel writing so extraordinary.

Lose yourself in this classic prize-winning memoir of life in 1950s Cyprus on the brink of revolution by the legendary king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu. 'Stunning.' André Aciman 'Masterly ... Casts a spell.' Jan Morris'Invades the reader's every sense ... Remarkable.' Victoria Hislop'These days I am admiring and re-admiring Lawrence Durrell.' Elif Shafak'Our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean.' Richard Holmes'Exceptional ... Revelatory ... A master.' Observer'He writes as an artist, as well as a poet . Profoundly beautiful.' New StatesmanCyprus, 1953. As the island fights for independence from British colonial rule, ancient conflicts between Turkish and Greek Cypriots trouble the glittering Mediterranean waters. Into the brewing political storm enters Lawrence Durrell, yearning for the idyllic island lifestyle of his youth in Corfu.He settles into a dilapidated villa, and with his poet's eye for beauty - and passable Greek - vividly captures the moods and atmospheres of island life in a changing world. Whether collecting folklore or wild flowers, describing the brewing revolution or eccentric local characters, Durrell is a magician with words: and the result is not only a classic travel memoir, but an intimate portrait of a community lost forever.WINNER OF THE DUFF COOPER MEMORIAL PRIZE'Brilliant ... Never for a moment does Durrell lose the poet's touch.' New York Times

Lose yourself in this dazzling travelogue of the idyllic Greek Islands by the king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu. 'Incandescent.' André Aciman'Invades the reader's every sense ... Remarkable.' Victoria Hislop 'Nobody knows the Greek islands like Durrell.' New York Times White-washed houses drenched in pink bougainvillea; dazzling seascapes and rugged coastlines; colourful harbours in quaint fishing villages; shady olive and cypress groves; terraces bathed in the Aegean sun ... The Greek islands conjure up a treasure-chest of images - but nobody brings them to life as vividly as the legendary travel writer Lawrence Durrell. It was during his youth in Corfu - which his brother Gerald fictionalised in My Family and Other Animals, later filmed as The Durrells In Corfu - that his love affair with the Mediterranean began. Now, in this glorious tour of the Greek islands, he weaves evocative descriptions of these idyllic landscapes with insights into their ancient history, and shares luminous personal memories of his time in the local communities. No traveller to Greece or admirer of Durrell's magic should miss it.'Masterly ... Casts a spell.' Jan Morris'Our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean.' Richard Holmes'Like long letters from a civilized and very funny friend - the prose as luminous as the Mediterranean air he loves.' Time

Lose yourself in this classic travelogue evoking the idyllic South of France by the king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu. 'Full of stories, landscapes, comedy, history, heresies, animals, food, drink, and songs of the Midi.' Patrick Leigh Fermor 'A richly characteristic bouillabaisse by our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean, our old Prospero of the south.' Richard Holmes Provence, Southern France. Celebrated writer and poet Lawrence Durrell made the Midi his home for more than thirty years: and in his final book, he shares his most evocative, dazzling memories of life as a local. A seductive blend of travelogue, poet's notebook, and intimate autobiography, Durrell guides us through the rich layers of human history that lie beneath the region's legendary landscapes. From stories of magic and mythology infusing the rolling vineyards and vivid lavender fields to tales of Roman conquest, bull-worship, and courtly love beneath the wounded blue skies, Caesar's Vast Ghost is a classic memoir to be treasured.'Casts a spell ... Masterly.' Jan Morris'A virtuoso.' New York Times

The Avignon Quintet gathers Lawrence Durrell's five kaleidoscopic, Booker Prize-nominated novels - orbiting around the South of France in World War II - into one epic modern classic, one of 'the greatest novels of our time' (Sunday Times).'Durrell is a magician. He juggles with glittering words, he conjures up "cloud capped towers, gorgeous palaces and solemn temples," he entrances, intrigues and impresses.' The TimesAvignon: the kingdom of kings and Popes, capital of the historic South of France, heart of legendary Provence. The entwined lives of a group of friends - and lovers - are transformed forever by the outbreak of World War II. But their dramatic present only plunges them further into the darkness of an ancient past, as they become entangled in buried plots, gnostic cults, religious rituals, and a mysterious hunt for hidden Knight's Templar treasure. From Hitler's Europe to the medieval world, French chateaus to Egyptian deserts, The Avignon Quintet is an epic symphony of ecstasy and terror, madness and memory, passion and death. Consisting of five majestic novels - Monsieur, Livia, Constance, Sebastian and Quinx - it is a wild, wise masterpiece that could only be written by the literary master of his century, Lawrence Durrell.'Entrancing ... Swooning ... Charged with Durrell's strange magic.' Guardian'An enigmatic and secretive work, a cluster of dark passages and gaudy treasure-filled caves ... Inventive gusto and fictive extravagance ... Sensational.' London Review of Books'Splendid ... Reckless all-or-nothing writing.' Sunday Telegraph 'A virtuoso, capable of extraordinary feats.' New York Times 'Pungent and teasing ... There is some insidious power in him that keeps one reading.' ObserverWhat readers are saying:'As if Proust had written Raiders of the Lost Ark ...Templars, gnostics, handsome princes, asylums, madness, Freudians, southern France, Egypt, ancient tombs, castles, exotica, erotica, incest, ghosts, gypsies, ascetics, spies, Nazis, secret societies, bordellos, feasts, Nubian lesbians, assassins disguised as nuns, literary doppelgangers, convents, hidden treasure, suicide, and art.''Mystery, love, incest, war, espionage, gypsies, mysticism, secret rituals: a masterful writer.' 'Magnificent ... An incredible level of writing that should be experienced by everyone who loves modern literature.''A masterpiece ... Unlike anything I've ever read.' 'The master at his peak.' 'The writing is spectacular, unlike anything today.' 'Deeply complex, very clever use of language and gripping. Highly recommended.' 'Hairs suddenly rise on the back of the neck ... Read with a glass of wine.'

Rediscover one of the twentieth century's greatest romances in Lawrence Durrell's seductive tale of four tangled lovers in wartime Egypt that is 'stunning' (André Aciman) and 'wonderful' (Elif Shafak).'A masterpiece.' Guardian'A formidable, glittering achievement.' TLS'One of the great works of English fiction.' Times 'Dazzlingly exuberant ... Superb.' Observer'Brave and brazen ... Lush and grandiose.' Independent 'Legendary ... Casts a spell ... Reader, watch out!' Guardian'Lushly beautiful ... One of the most important works of our time.' NYTBRAlexandria, Egypt. Trams, palm trees and watermelon stalls lie honey-bathed in sunlight; in darkened bedrooms, sweaty lovers unfurl. But in a world trembling on the brink of the Second World War, passion and death are inextricable. When Darley, a penniless schoolteacher, begins an affair with Justine - a married Egyptian woman of unparalleled glamour - their partners, Melissa and Nessim, are sucked into a whirlpool of jealousy and violence. One of the twentieth-century's greatest romances, Lawrence Durrell's scandalous 'investigation of modern love' set the world alight in 1957. Rich in political and sexual intrigue, his epic masterpiece burns just as brightly today. Introduced by Jan Morris, this oomnibus edition collects all four novels together in all their glory.What Readers Are Saying - Justine (Book 1):'Sometimes you discover a new author and know you're going to be friends for life ... One of the most beautiful books I've ever read.''I absolutely adored this book ... I felt sucked into it with an amazing force by the beauty of the words ... The backdrop of 1930s Egypt's literary circles and bohemian relationships is mesmerising ... Breathtaking.''Shimmering and dreamlike ... One of the most beautifully written books I've read ... All of life is here; can't wait for the next one.''Lush, brutal, beautiful ... Durrell captured a place and time that will never exist again.''What makes this novel truly spectacular is the language, the episodic jumps in time, the lush lyricism, and how Durrell so deftly manages to tie this all into both the city of Alexandria and the themes of passion, love, and jealousy. '

Lose yourself in the thrilling political intrigue and tangled love affairs of wartime Egypt, in Durrell's epic modern classic.Every interpretation of reality is based upon a unique position ...As the threat of war looms over Alexandria, an exiled Anglo-Irish schoolteacher unravels his erotic obsession with two women: Melissa, a dancer, and Justine, a glamorous Egyptian wife. During sessions with his psychiatrist, Balthazar, their intricate love affair is cast in a radical, sinister new light, illuminating a mysterious plot connected to a recent murder - but Lawrence Durrell's kaleidoscopic storytelling means that nothing is ever as it seems ... 'Legendary ... Casts a spell ... A fine storyteller. Reader, watch out!' Jan Morris, Guardian'A brave and brazen work ... Lush and grandiose.' Independent 'One of the very best novelists of our time ... [such] beauty.' New York Times Book ReviewVOLUME TWO OF LAWRENCE DURRELL'S ALEXANDRIA QUARTET

Imagine if P.G.Wodehouse was a diplomat: Durrell's hilarious foreign office sketches are 'sophisticated funny, but wonderful, and bonkers' (Joanna Trollope)'A rewarding cocktail based on two parts Wodehouse and one part Saki ... So much fun.' New York Times'Whatever wars there may be and whatever crises, there will still, please heaven, be the diplomatic corps, with its protocol and formalities and a field for humour which I have never seen better used than in these stories.' John BetjemanAfter a lifetime serving that most delightfully British of institutions, the Foreign Office, Antrobus can't resist musing over old times in Vulgaria at his London club - or should that be cringing ... Rankled by farcical gaffes and absurd misadventures, from Yugoslav ghost trains to disastrous misprints ('The Balkan Herald Keeps the British Flag Frying'), these delicious sketches lampoon English etiquette, empire, and eccentricity.Celebrated British novelist, travel writer, and member of the real-life family portrayed in The Durrells in Corfu, Lawrence Durrell experienced the absurdities of mid-century diplomacy firsthand. His charming jeu d'esprit about the diplomatic corps is classic satire: but be warned: there's a point where laughter can become painful ...'My goodness it is funny.' Daily Telegraph'Uproariously funny and shrewd ... With the arrows of farce and of satire, he is on the target again and again.' Evening Standard

Lose yourself in the thrilling political intrigue and tangled love affairs of wartime Egypt in Durrell's epic modern classic. An expat schoolteacher has spent years in exile reflecting on his turmoiled love affair with Justine, a glamorous Egyptian wife. Returning to wartime Alexandria, he finds that his old friends have suffered dramatic changes of body, mind, and fortune - and someone whom he has never really known wishes to see him. His affair with Clea, a bisexual artist, not only changes the lovers, but transforms the dead, forever - and heralds a new beginning, just as Lawrence Durrell's intoxicating masterpiece ends. 'Durrell has written about a dozen real love stories, entwined them, and explored them with a truly Proustian ferocity ... Superb.' Observer 'Lushly beautiful ... His style glows ... One of the most important works of our time.' New York Times Book Review'It is hard now to recapture the impact half a century ago of these novels' heat, luxuriance and profanity [or] his descriptions of Alexandria - its beauty, cruelty, menace, mystery, decadence ....' Spectator

Rediscover one of the twentieth century's greatest romances: this seductive tale of four tangled lovers in wartime Egypt, introduced by André Aciman (Call Me By Your Name and Find Me), is 'wonderful' (Elif Shafak)I remembered Justine saying harshly as she lay in bed: 'We use each other like axes to cut down the ones we really love'.Alexandria: the great winepress of love. Trams, palm trees, and watermelon stalls lie honey-bathed in sunlight; in darkened bedrooms, sweaty lovers unfurl. But in a world trembling on the brink of war, passion and death are inextricable. When a penniless schoolteacher begins an affair with Justine - a married Egyptian lady of unparalleled glamour - their partners are sucked into a whirlpool of jealousy and violence. One of the world's greatest romances, rich in political and sexual intrigue, Lawrence Durrell's scandalous 'investigation of modern love' set the world alight in 1957 and - as André Aciman reveals - it burns just as brightly today.What Readers Are Saying:'Sometimes you discover a new author and know you're going to be friends for life ... One of the most beautiful books I've ever read.''I absolutely adored this book ... I felt sucked into it with an amazing force by the beauty of the words ... The backdrop of 1930s Egypt's literary circles and bohemian relationships is mesmerising ... Breathtaking.''Shimmering and dreamlike ... One of the most beautifully written books I've read ... All of life is here; can't wait for the next one.''Lush, brutal, beautiful ... Durrell captured a place and time that will never exist again.''What makes this novel truly spectacular is the language, the episodic jumps in time, the lush lyricism, and how Durrell so deftly manages to tie this all into both the city of Alexandria and the themes of passion, love, and jealousy. 'What The Critics Said:'A masterpiece.' Guardian'One of the great works of English fiction.' Times 'Dazzlingly exuberant ... Reckless ... Superb.' Observer'Brave and brazen ... Lush and grandiose.' Independent 'Legendary ... Casts a spell ... Reader, watch out!' Guardian'Lushly beautiful ... One of the most important works of our time.' NYTBR

Lose yourself in bestselling author Lawrence Durrell's sublime novel about a group of English tourists trapped in the minotaur's labyrinth on Crete ... 'Spellbinding ... A fine storyteller.' Guardian'Superb ... Quite simply a lovely work of art.' New York TimesA group of English tourists have come ashore from their cruise ship to explore the island of Crete. This motley crew - including a painter, spiritualist, spinster, soldier, convalescent, and elderly couple - are holidaying to seek respite from a broken post-war world. But their journey reaches a disastrous climax when they visit a cave reputed to be the legendary labyrinth of the minotaur, and become trapped within ...Set in the glorious Mediterranean landscapes which Lawrence Durrell so famously evoked in his travel writing and novels, The Dark Labyrinth is a morality tale unlike any other. Artfully blending horror and humour, comedy and tragedy, witty allegory and profound philosophy, it is a sublime novel, as refreshing today as it was decades ago. 'Superb, not only in the great passages of poetical description but also [the] casual wit and the brilliance of comment.' Observer