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

Written with Fleming-esque brio and insouciance, with a feeling for the tragic aspects of his life as well as the ironic comedy of it..elegant...the research here is impeccable. * Telegraph * This excellent biography is as worldly and clever as one could wish. -- Philip Hensher * Spectator * Elegant and painstakingly researched * Observer * A monumental record of Fleming's life. The completeness of the book is beyond doubt. Shakespeare leaves no future biographer much to discover. Fleming's place in history is assured. -- Max Hastings * Sunday Times * A sustained and engrossing homage to the Olympic icon of a beleaguered Britain, and a writer damned to fame. With scarcely a dull page, it's a chip off the old block... steeped in exceptional research....stitches up the loose ends of Fleming's story into a satisfying 21st-century biography. -- Robert McCrum * Independent * 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 A must-read * Evening Standard * A definitive biography that deepens and reshapes previous versions of Fleming's life... light-footed and swift-moving despite its copious research... Shakespeare's Fleming rises from these richly textured pages as a more substantial and sympathetic figure than the preening snob of myth. * Financial Times * The Complete Man is packed with women, their characters and stories carefully filled in...highly accomplished and readable * New Statesman * A revealing insight into postwar, post-Empire Britain...A terrific read -- Michael Wood * BBC History Magazine * The most comprehensive picture yet of Bond's creator... definitive * Economist * Fascinating, well researched, neatly written -- D.J. Taylor * Literary Review * 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...written with such brio that the pace never slackens -- 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 Shakespeare, renowned biographer of Bruce Chatwin, reveals a story worthy of a Bond novel in his life of Ian Fleming. The painstakingly researched yet fast-paced book explores Fleming's childhood, dramatic war years and complex personal life and reveals how they shaped his hugely successful books * Financial Times, Best Books of the Year * [This book] impressed me enormously... stupendous research * Spectator, *Books of the Year* *