From his recognition by Henry Miller, Anais Nin and T. S. Eliot when he was in his twenties, to the completion of his oeuvre with The Avignon Quintet and an essay on Provence shortly before his death in 1990, Durrell's life and art were inextricable from one another.This major biography was undertaken at Durrell's invitation, with access to his personal papers and notebooks and letters. It draws heavily on the memories of innumerable friends and contemporaries, as well as his own family and the many women in his life, including his wives. It will engross all admirers of this mercurial and richly gifted writer whose 'investigation of modern love' in The Alexandria Quartet produced one of the masterpieces of post-war fiction.