Description

A fresh portrait of the man behind James Bond, and his enduring impact, by an award-winning biographer with unprecedented access to the Fleming family papers.

*WINNER OF THE CWA GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION*

Ian Fleming’s greatest creation, James Bond, has had an enormous and ongoing impact on our culture, but Fleming’s life was more mysterious than anything he wrote.

Ian’s childhood with his gifted brother and extraordinary mother established his ambition to be ‘the complete man’. Only a writer for his last twelve years, his dramatic personal experiences and career in Naval Intelligence put him at the heart of critical moments in world history, while also providing rich inspiration for his fiction.

Nicholas Shakespeare is one of the most gifted biographers working today. His talent for uncovering new material that casts fresh light on his subjects is fully evident in this masterful, definitive biography.

‘Elegant and painstakingly researched’ Observer

‘Marvellous…one of the most engaging portraits of a particular period of British history that I have read in a long time’ Antonia Fraser

‘A book so buoyant and delicious that you feel it will be a friend for life’ Telegraph

*LONGLISTED FOR THE SALTIRE SOCIETY LITERARY AWARD*

*A The Times, Financial Times, Economist, Spectator and BBC History Magazine Book of the Year*

Publisher Review

This is a marvellous book about Ian Fleming, but it's also one of the most engaging portraits of a particular period of British history that I have read in a long time -- Antonia Fraser Shakespeare has the rare ability to reinvigorate subjects that had seemed exhausted. If, like me, you thought you knew all there was to be known about Ian Fleming, prepare for a surprise: the creator of James Bond turns out to be more interesting and less unpleasant than we had thought him to be. Shakespeare's life of Bruce Chatwin showed him to be a very fine biographer, as well as a much-admired novelist; his life of Ian Fleming is equally compelling. Though a long book, it is written with such brio that the pace never slackens - much like a Bond, one might say. -- Adam Sisman What a masterful and definitive study this is, enhanced by a novelist's skill in making it so eminently readable and page-turning. I learned a great deal that I did not know. It is compulsively absorbing. -- David Stafford A magnificent work of empathy and detection -- Colin Thubron * Sunday Times, on Bruce Chatwin * This is a marvellous book about Ian Fleming, but it's also one of the most engaging portraits of a particular period of British history that I have read in a long time -- Antonia Fraser