Drawing on diaries, letters and manuscripts, on archival research in the Soviet Union, Europe and North America, and on interviews with Nabokov's family, friends, collegues, students - on everyone from an ex-fiancee to babysitters and concierges - the author captures the colour of Nabokov's life and world: opulent pre-revolutionary Petersburg, a Russian poet's Cambridge, impoverished emigre Berlin and France. The book includes a critical overview of Nabokov's thought and art.