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Ian Fleming

Ian Fleming

The Complete Man

Summary

A fresh portrait of the man behind James Bond, and his enduring impact, by an award-winning biographer with unprecedented access to the Fleming family papers.

*WINNER OF THE CWA GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION*

Ian Fleming's greatest creation, James Bond, has had an enormous and ongoing impact on our culture, but Fleming’s life was more mysterious than anything he wrote.

Ian’s childhood with his gifted brother and extraordinary mother established his ambition to be ‘the complete man’. Only a writer for his last twelve years, his dramatic personal experiences and career in Naval Intelligence put him at the heart of critical moments in world history, while also providing rich inspiration for his fiction.

Nicholas Shakespeare is one of the most gifted biographers working today. His talent for uncovering new material that casts fresh light on his subjects is fully evident in this masterful, definitive biography.

‘Elegant and painstakingly researched’ Observer

‘Marvellous…one of the most engaging portraits of a particular period of British history that I have read in a long time’ Antonia Fraser

‘A book so buoyant and delicious that you feel it will be a friend for life' Telegraph

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE SALTIRE SOCIETY LITERARY AWARD*


*A The Times, Financial Times, Economist, Spectator and BBC History Magazine Book of the Year*

Reviews

  • Written with Fleming-esque brio and insouciance, with a feeling for the tragic aspects of his life as well as the ironic comedy of it..elegant...the research here is impeccable.
    Telegraph

About the author

Nicholas Shakespeare

Nicholas Shakespeare was born in 1957. The son of a diplomat, much of his youth was spent in the Far East and South America. His books have been translated into twenty-two languages. They include The Vision of Elena Silves (winner of the Somerset Maugham Award), Snowleg, The Dancer Upstairs, Inheritance, Priscilla and Six Minutes in May. He has been longlisted for the Booker Prize twice, was a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
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