Library


Lawrence Durrell
1912 - 1990


Pied Piper of Lovers
This 1935 novel addresses the difficulties of an Anglo-Indian born of an inter-racial couple. It addresses the difficulties of life in India where the main character has to deal with his affinities for India but his place as a colonialist. He is then transported to Britain where he has to deal with the same issues but in the very different context of the mother country.

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Bitter Lemons
Durrell discusses the intricacies of the unfolding crisis in Cyprus between the Greek and Turksh communities. It is actually a non-fictional account written in 1957 as the politics of the situation was still very much a contemporary issue.

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Justine
This is the first part of the Alexandria Quartet. All four books in the series give an account of the same event in 1930s and 1940s Alexandria but from four different perspectives. Justine examines an increasingly complex love triangle between the protagonist, an English school master and a jewish woman attempting to keep it from her Egyptian coptic christian husband.

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Balthazar
This is the second part of the Alexandria Quartet. Balthazar sees an illegitimate daughter of the Egyptian copt inserted into the story. The role (and ineptitude) of British security services begins to impinge on the story.

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Mount Olive
This is the third part of the Alexandria Quartet. This gives the perspective of the British ambassador who had an affair with the Jewish woman's mother. It is a far more political account and goes into detail on the development of Zionist ideas and sympathy from within the Coptic community.

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Clea
This is the fourth and final part of the Alexandria Quartet. The characters from the first two books reminisce and pull the events of the previous books together although in a metaphysical and experimental manner.

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