{"product_id":"balthazar-9780140153217","title":"Balthazar","description":"The dazzling second volume of \u003ci\u003eThe Alexandria Quartet\u003c\/i\u003e--an enthralling and deeply disturbing work of gorgeous surfaces and endless deceptions. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In Alexandra, in the years before the Second World War, an exiled Irish schoolteacher seeks to unravel his sexual obsession with two women: the tubercular café dancer, Melissa, and Justine, the alluring Jewish wife of a wealthy Coptic Christian. What emerges in his sessions with the psychiatrist Balthazar, however, is something far more complex--and unfathomably more sinister--than neurosis. Lawrence Durrell's kaleidoscopic narrative ushers us into a world in which no perception is reliable--and love itself is always an act of treachery. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Durrell is one of the very best novelists of our time. . . . He has a sensuous, vigorous style that I have not found equaled by any other novelist today. . . . A spontaneous, resourceful new beauty that any sensitive reader will almost certainly love.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Book Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"It is difficult to sum up \u003ci\u003eBalthazar\u003c\/i\u003e; it will not be contained. It spills or slips away like smoke. The sheer writing is superb. . . . A wonderful book, a book to read many times.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe Houston Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-16161715\"\u003eLawrence Durrell\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Penguin Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/12\/1991\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.45lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.70h x 5.00w x 0.60d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780140153217\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0140153217\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FIC\"\u003eFiction\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FIC019000\"\u003eLiterary\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FIC\"\u003eFiction\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FIC014000\"\u003eHistorical | General\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FIC\"\u003eFiction\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FIC025000\"\u003ePsychological\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLawrence Durrell \u003c\/b\u003ewas born in 1912 in India. He attended the Jesuit College at Darjeeling and St. Edmund's School, Canterbury. His first literary work, \u003ci\u003eThe Black Book\u003c\/i\u003e, appeared in Paris in 1938. His first collection of poems, \u003ci\u003eA Private Country\u003c\/i\u003e, was published in 1943, followed by the three Island books: \u003ci\u003eProspero's Cell\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eReflections on a Marine Venus\u003c\/i\u003e, about Rhodes; and \u003ci\u003eBitter Lemons\u003c\/i\u003e, his account of life in Cyprus. Durrell's wartime sojourn in Egypt led to his masterpiece, \u003ci\u003eThe Alexandria Quartet\u003c\/i\u003e, which he completed in southern France, where he settled permanently in 1957. Between the quartet and \u003ci\u003eThe Avignon Quintet\u003c\/i\u003e he wrote the two-decker \u003ci\u003eTunc \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eNunquam\u003c\/i\u003e. His oeuvre includes plays, a book of criticism, translations, travel writing, and humorous stories about the diplomatic corps. \u003ci\u003eCaesar's Vast Ghost\u003c\/i\u003e, his reflections on the history and culture of Provence, including a late flowering of poems, was published a few days before his death in Sommières in 1990.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48457627140333,"sku":"9780140153217","price":23.47,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/8097\/6621\/files\/img_cac82620-d6b1-4c30-917c-c3d8a146247d.jpg?v=1753584888","url":"https:\/\/sureshotbooks.com\/products\/balthazar-9780140153217","provider":"SureShot Books Publishing LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}