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.

Ian Fleming's greatest creation, James Bond, has had an enormous and ongoing impact on our culture. What Bond represents about ideas of masculinity, the British national psyche and global politics has shifted over time, as has the interpretation of the life of his author. But Fleming himself was more mysterious and subtle than anything he wrote.

Ian's childhood with his gifted brother Peter and his extraordinary mother set the pattern for his ambition to be 'the complete man', and he would strive for the means to achieve this 'completeness' all his life. Only a thriller writer for his last twelve years, his dramatic personal life and impressive 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.

'This is a marvellous book about Ian Fleming, but it's also 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

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

About the Author
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.

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 *
This excellent biography is as worldly and clever as one could wish. -- Philip Hensher * Spectator *
Elegant and painstakingly researched * Observer *
A monumental record of Fleming's life. The completeness of the book is beyond doubt. Shakespeare leaves no future biographer much to discover. Fleming's place in history is assured. -- Max Hastings * Sunday Times *
A sustained and engrossing homage to the Olympic icon of a beleaguered Britain, and a writer damned to fame. With scarcely a dull page, it's a chip off the old block... steeped in exceptional research....stitches up the loose ends of Fleming's story into a satisfying 21st-century biography. -- Robert McCrum * Independent *
This is a marvellous book about Ian Fleming, but it's also one of the most engaging portraits of a particular period of British history that I have read in a long time -- Antonia Fraser
A must-read * Evening Standard *
A definitive biography that deepens and reshapes previous versions of Fleming's life... light-footed and swift-moving despite its copious research... Shakespeare's Fleming rises from these richly textured pages as a more substantial and sympathetic figure than the preening snob of myth. * Financial Times *
The Complete Man is packed with women, their characters and stories carefully filled in...highly accomplished and readable * New Statesman *
A revealing insight into postwar, post-Empire Britain...A terrific read -- Michael Wood * BBC History Magazine *
The most comprehensive picture yet of Bond's creator... definitive * Economist *
Fascinating, well researched, neatly written -- D.J. Taylor * Literary Review *



Book Information
ISBN 9781787302419
Author Nicholas Shakespeare
Format Hardback
Page Count 864
Imprint Harvill Secker
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 1002g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 162mm * 44mm