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