Livia or Buried AliveThe second book of Durrells inventive and inspiring Avignon Quintet, Livia follows the currents of longing and regret, and the shifting illusions of memory, that began in Monsieur. Two sisters, Livia and Constance, have already led remarkable lives as scholars, lovers of artists, and seekers of the forbidden wisdom of Gnostic sages. As Europe is shaken by the rise of fascism, the two sisters find themselves driven apart by shifting alliances. Livia is

It's the story of how a young bookworm growing up in a house where there was nothing to read but knitting pamphlets and motorcycle manuals became a writer - a 'word monkey' - and pursued a sort of career in popular fiction

and at the luxurious Lotus Hotel in Chelsea

so I could be given as a gift to the new queen of England

He said quietly

He'll catch them up

Chester Grange

Welsh love spoons

When Satish is asked to take part in a reunion of those involved in that Jubilee photograph

Christian apologist

Looming over them all is a celebrated and reclusive artist whose masterworks are priceless

'Watch your step

But it's not a nightmare - she is savagely violated in her own bedroom