Published: 7 April 2000
ISBN: 9780099289975
Imprint: Vintage
Format: Paperback
Pages: 656
RRP: $29.99

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Nicholas Shakespeare

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Beautifully written and critically acclaimed, this is the definitive biography of one of our most fascinating cultural icons

Bruce Chatwin's death from AIDS in 1989 brought a meteoric career to an abrupt end. His reputation as a storyteller has grown over the last decade, and his exquisite, subtle texts continue to inspire readers all over the world.
'Of my contemporaries he had the most erudite and possibly the most brilliant mind I ever came across, 'says Salman Rushdie. The books that followed his first success with IN PATAGONIA confirmed his statue as a major writer able to reinvent himself constantly.
Bruce Chatwin was different things to different people: a director at Sotheby's, an archeaologist, a journalist, photographer and art-collector. Married for 23 years, he was also an active homosexual. He was at once a socialite, mixing with the rich and famous, and a loner who explored the limits of extreme solitude.

In 1991, Nicholas Shakespeare was given unrestricted access to Chatwin's private notebooks, diaries and letters. Across five continents he gathered evidence from Chatwin's friends, family, hosts, enemies and lovers. Looking for Chatwin behind the masks, he has written the definitive biography of one of the mossot charistmatic and elusive literary figures of our time.

Published: 7 April 2000
ISBN: 9780099289975
Imprint: Vintage
Format: Paperback
Pages: 656
RRP: $29.99

Categories:

Share…

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 novels have been translated into twenty languages. They include The Vision Of Elena Silves, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, Snowleg and The Dancer Upstairs, which was chosen by the American Libraries Association in 1997 as the year's best novel, and in 2001 was made into a film of the same name by John Malkovich. Recent books include Secrets of the Sea and Priscilla. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He is married with two sons and divides his time between Oxford and Tasmania.

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Praise for Madonna

Enduring superstar gets the biography she deserves
Mojo

A mighty volume
Mail on Sunday

Madonna remains one of the most fascinating women of our time
Telegraph

O'Brien is a capable and intelligent writer...a refreshing biography of the iconic popstress
Guardian

If Madonna is your Elvis you will devour Lucy O'Brien's definitive biography; not only can she write properly, but her book is objective, immaculately researched and illuminating.
Irish Examiner

Lucy O'Brien's measured and comprehensive profile takes a look at [Madonna's] extraordinary life to date, focusing on the cultural impact she's made.
The Good Book Guide

British rock journalist Lucy O'Brien seeks to go beyond the fastidiously cultivated image and get a glimpse of the woman behind the veil. She uncovers some fascinating, often shocking, nuggets.
Irish Independent

An illuminating study of a complex, iconic woman, covering her life, her relationships and what motivates her as a woman and an artist.
Sainsbury's magazine

With detailed, surgical precision O'Brien bores to the heart of her subject, a heart that is, by turns, cold, impenetrable but forever beating.
Paul Tierney, arts journalist