CLEA – LAWRENCE DURRELL-ELIF SHAFAK

Lose yourself in the thrilling political intrigue and tangled love affairs of wartime Egypt in Durrell s epic modern classic, introduced by bestselling author Elif Shafak (The Forty Rules of Love). An expat schoolteacher has spent years in exile reflecting on his turmoiled love affair with Justine, a glamorous Egyptian wife. Returning to wartime Alexandria, he finds that his old friends have suffered dramatic changes of body, mind, and fortune – and someone whom he has never really known wishes to see him. His affair with Clea, a bisexual artist, not only changes the lovers, but transforms the dead, forever – and heralds a new beginning, just as Lawrence Durrell s intoxicating masterpiece ends. Durrell has written about a dozen real love stories, entwined them, and explored them with a truly Proustian ferocity … Superb. Observer Lushly beautiful … His style glows … One of the most important works of our time. New York Times Book Review It is hard now to recapture the impact half a century ago of these novels heat, luxuriance and profanity [or] his descriptions of Alexandria – its beauty, cruelty, menace, mystery, decadence …. Spectator