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Prospero's Cell
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Check link for latest rating. ( 1,118 ratings, 131 reviews)
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Format: Paperback / softback
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See moreLose yourself in this glorious memoir of the island jewel of Corfu by the king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu.
Lose yourself in this glorious memoir of the island jewel of Corfu by the king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu.
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
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Description
"In its gem-like miniature quality, among the best books ever written." - New York Times
In his youth, before he became a celebrated writer and poet, Lawrence Durrell spent four transformative years on the island jewel of Corfu, fascinated by the idyllic natural beauty and blood-stained ancient history within its rocky shores.
While his brother Gerald collected animals as a budding naturalist—later fictionalised in My Family and Other Animals and filmed as The Durrells in Corfu—Lawrence fished, drank and befriended the local villagers.
After World War II catapulted him back into a turmoiled world, Durrell never forgot the wonders of Corfu. Prospero's Cell is his magical evocation of the blazing Aegean landscape, brimming with memories of the places and people that changed him forever.
"Some writers reinvent their language; others the world. Durrell did both." - Andre Aciman
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Prospero's Cell by Lawrence Durrell is highly praised for its evocative depiction of Corfu, capturing the essence of the island with remarkable sensory detail. Critics admire Durrell's ability to transport readers to the Mediterranean, with some describing the work as a delightful and charming idyll. The book has been lauded as an admiration-worthy travel narrative by contemporary and historical readers alike.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780571362387
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 01 July 2021
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Faber & Faber
Edition: Main
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 12.0mm
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 176g
Pages: 208
About the Author
Lawrence Durrell was a British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer. Born in 1912, he was sent to school in England and later moved to Corfu with his family - a period which his brother Gerald fictionalised in My Family and Other Animals - later filmed as ITV's The Durrells in Corfu - and which he himself described in Prospero's Cell. The first of Durrell's island books, this was followed by Reflections on a Marine Venus on Rhodes; Bitter Lemons, on Cyprus, which won the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize; and, later, The Greek Islands.
Durrell's first major novel, The Black Book, was published in 1938 in Paris, where he befriended Henry Miller and Anais Nin - and it was praised by T. S. Eliot, who published his poetry in 1943. A wartime sojourn in Egypt inspired his bestselling masterpiece, The Alexandria Quartet (Justine, Balthazar, Mountolive and Clea) which he completed in his new home in Southern France, where in 1974 he began The Avignon Quintet. When he died in 1990, Durrell was one of the most celebrated writers in British history.
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Caesar's Vast Ghost
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Justine
Walking slowly home through the dark avenue of trees, tasting the brackish harbour wind, I remembered Justine saying harshly as she lay in bed: 'We use each other like axes to cut down the ones we really love'. Alexandria: the great winepress of love. Trams, palm trees, and watermelon stalls lie honey-bathed in sunlight; in darkened bedrooms, sweaty lovers unfurl....Paperback$2600Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
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'A magician.' - The Times Despite decades spent poetically chronicling Mediterranean life in Rhodes, Cyprus, and Corfu, celebrated travel writer Lawrence Durrell had never set foot on the largest island: Sicily. For years, his friend Martine begged him to visit her on this sun-kissed paradise, but it took her sudden death to finally bring him to its shores - and...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
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Rich in invention, psychological truth and sheer entertainment, the five short novels that comprise The Avignon Quintet form one of the key works of an undisputed modern master. Another constellation of Mediterranean mysteries and memories. This time it is not Alexandria, but Avignon: the old kingdom of the Popes, the capital of the ancient South of France, the heart of...Paperback$4999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
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Incandescent. - Andre Aciman Nobody knows the Greek islands like Durrell. - New York Times White-washed houses drenched in pink bougainvillea; dazzling seascapes and rugged coastlines; colourful harbours in quaint fishing villages; shady olive and cypress groves; terraces bathed in the Aegean sun... The Greek islands conjure up a treasure-chest of images - but nobody brings them to life as...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
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Clea
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...Paperback$2600Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Alexandria Quartet
Lawrence Durrell was one of the best-selling, most celebrated English novelists of the late 20th century. The Alexandria Quartet is unquestionably his most admired work, at heart a sensuous and brilliant evocation of wartime Alexandria. In this world of corrupt glamour, L. G. Darley attempts to reconcile himself to the end of his affair with the dark, passionate Justine Hosnani—setting...PaperbackSold Out -
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Bitter Lemons of Cyprus by Lawrence Durrell is a mesmerising chronicle that captures the essence of Cyprus during a turbulent period in its history. Set in 1953, the book unfolds against the backdrop of the island's struggle for independence from British colonial rule. As Cyprus becomes a battleground for ancient conflicts between Turkish and Greek Cypriots, Durrell finds himself amidst...PaperbackSold Out -
Mountolive
Mountolive by Lawrence Durrell is a novel that plunges readers into the complex world of an English diplomat in Egypt. David Mountolive, who has been captivated by Egypt since a youthful love affair, returns to Alexandria as the British Ambassador just before World War Two. There, he navigates an intricate web of political and religious conspiracies, connecting him with a...PaperbackSold Out -
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