Ian Fleming. Andrew Lycett (Hardback) 1995

IAN FLEMING by Andrew Lycett.

Ian Fleming was infinitely more complicated and interesting than his famous fictional hero, James Bond.

From the late 1930 he courted the vivacious Ann O'Neill. But for fifteen years he refused to wed her, even after her first husband was killed in the war. They continued a passionate relationship which resulted in their marriage only after she became pregnant by him a second time.

As a diversion, he escaped into fantasy and invented successful fictional spy of the twentieth century. Here Andrew Lycett offers the fullest ever account of Agent 007's publishing history and cultural significent.

Fleming soon tired of the writing treadmill and with his health beginning to fail and his marriage to Ann running into difficulties he found solace on the golf course and at his secluded cliff-top villa in Jamaica. There he met the uncomplicated divorcee who provided the support and adoration he needed. But hisextra-marital liaison only infuriated Ann, driving her into the unlikely arms of Hugh Gaitskell, leader of the Labour Party.

With an extraordinary cast of characters, this is classical biography - part history, part gossip, [part informed reassessment of one of the century's most celebrated yet mysterious personalities

A hardbacl published in 1995 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson