{"product_id":"clea-9780140153224","title":"Clea","description":"The magnificent final volume of one of the most widely acclaimed fictional masterpieces of the postwar era. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Few books have been awaited as eagerly as \u003ci\u003eClea\u003c\/i\u003e, the sensuous and electrically suspenseful novel that resolves the enigmas of the Alexandria Quartet. Some years and one world war was after his bizarre liaisons with Melissa and Justine, the Irish  migr  Darley becomes enmeshed with the bisexual artist Clea. That affair not only changes the lovers, it transforms the dead as well, revealing new layers of duplicity and desire, perversity and pathos in Lawrence Durrell's masterly construction. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"A massive, marvelously concrete, deeply felt statement of faith. . . . His style glows with the mineral deposits of many cultures. One of the most important works of our time has come to an end.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"\u003ci\u003eClea\u003c\/i\u003e rounds out the tetralogy with grace, beauty, and stunning impact. . . . This rich, exciting fare is Durrell's finest writing style, a manner of writing few living authors can equal. . . . A magnificent achievement.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe Detriot News\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"The reader is carried along on a current of superbly accomplished prose, as flexible and colorful as that of any contemporary writer. . . . What Durrell has given us is well worth having.\"--\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLawrence Durrell \u003c\/b\u003ewas born in 1912 in India. He attended the Jesuit College at Darjeeling and St. Edmund's School, Canterbury. His first literary work, \u003ci\u003eThe Black Book\u003c\/i\u003e, appeared in Paris in 1938. His first collection of poems, \u003ci\u003eA Private Country\u003c\/i\u003e, was published in 1943, followed by the three Island books: \u003ci\u003eProspero's Cell\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eReflections on a Marine Venus\u003c\/i\u003e, about Rhodes; and \u003ci\u003eBitter Lemons\u003c\/i\u003e, his account of life in Cyprus. Durrell's wartime sojourn in Egypt led to his masterpiece, \u003ci\u003eThe Alexandria Quartet\u003c\/i\u003e, which he completed in southern France, where he settled permanently in 1957. Between the quartet and \u003ci\u003eThe Avignon Quintet\u003c\/i\u003e he wrote the two-decker \u003ci\u003eTunc \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eNunquam\u003c\/i\u003e. His oeuvre includes plays, a book of criticism, translations, travel writing, and humorous stories about the diplomatic corps. \u003ci\u003eCaesar's Vast Ghost\u003c\/i\u003e, his reflections on the history and culture of Provence, including a late flowering of poems, was published a few days before his death in Sommières in 1990.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Penguin Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50526845468946,"sku":"9780140153224","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_46ddfc21-62b3-42a5-a680-947f099f8fd1.jpg?v=1731284327","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/clea-9780140153224","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}