Dylan Thomas was a sensation, both as a person and as a poet. His writing – short stories as well as verse – was hugely popular. He broadcast widely on the old BBC Home and Third Programmes. Given to drink and womanising, his life was public and even in the more staid 1940s caused a continuing stir. In 1953, after completing the work for which he is best remembered, UNDER MILK WOOD, he left London for his first US reading tour, where he had been ‘discovered’ him the previous year. But he was still drinking heavily and in November 1953 he died suddenly in New York. He was only 39.
There have been two previous lives of Thomas: by Constantine Fitzgibbon (1965) and Paul Ferris (1977 and revised for Dent in 1999). But since then Thomas wife, Caitlin, and his son Llewelyn, have died. Their surviving families have promised Lycett access to their papers. Lycett has also secured the backing of the Dylan Thomas trustees and of Thomas’s daughter Aeronwy. 
The 50th anniversary is an ideal moment to reassess Dylan Thomas’s his genius as a writer and his short but tragic life. This biography will provide a focus for a programme of Dylan Thomas resissues (Orion control his books) and Dylan Thomas celebrations.

Dylan Thomas : A New Life

Andrew Lycett

Biographies & Memoirs

Weidenfeld&Nicolson

Sportsman, womaniser,naval commander,traveller,spy, Flemings own life was an obvious backdrop for his stories of the renowned 007. This book provides an insightinto the very private life of the man himself.

Ian Fleming

TRAFALGAR SQUARE +

Rudyard Kipling

Paragon of English virtues or racist imperialist? Andrew Lycett (acclaimed biographer of Ian Fleming) has returned to primary sources to tell the intricate story of a misunderstood genius who became Britain’s most famous and highest earning author. Among the many new sources, Lycett has discovered previously unpublished letters that illuminate Kipling’s crucial years in India, his first girlfriend (the model for Mrs Hauksbee of Plain Tales from the Hills), his parents’ decision to send him back to England to boarding school; and in his adult life his use of opium, his frustrating times in London and the brief peace he found in America before the devastating loss of both his young daughter and, in the First World War, his son. 
Lycett also uncovers the extraordinary story of Kipling’s great love for Flo Garrard, daughter of the crown jeweller and unravels the complicated yet enthralling saga of the American family, the Balestiers and of Carrie Balestier who became Kipling’s wife.
This biography is full of new material on Kipling’s financial dealings with Lord Beaverbrook, his friendships with T.E. Lawrence, the painter Edward Burne-Jones and the Conservative politician and Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin who was his cousin.
Lycett places Kipling in an historical and social context with the skills that lead Selina Hastings in the Sunday Telegraph to write of his Ian Fleming: `Superb ... This is an exemplary biography, beautifully written, fast-paced and extremely perceptive.'

Arts & Literature

This biography of Rudyard Kipling goes back to basic sources to unravel the intricate story of a misunderstood genius who became Britain's most famous and highest earning author in his day.

Phoenix Paperbacks

Dylan Thomas was a romantic and controversial figure; a poet who lived to excess and died young. An inventive genius with a gift for both lyrical phrases and impish humour, he also wrote for films and radio, and was renowned for his stage performances. He became the first literary star in the age of popular culture - a favourite of both T.S. Eliot and John Lennon. As his status as a poet and entertainer increased, so did his alcoholic binges and his sexual promiscuity, threatening to destroy his marriage to his fiery Irish wife Caitlin. As this extraordinary biography reveals, he was a man of many contradictions. But out of his tempestuous life, he produced some of the most dramatic and enduring poetry in the English language.

Dylan Thomas

Phoenix (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group)

Ian Fleming: The Man Behind James Bond (Library Edition)

Blackstone Audio,Inc.

Sportsman, womanizer, naval commander, world-traveler, and spy, the creator of the Cold War's archetypal secret agent was infinitely more complex and interesting than his iconic fictional character, Agent 007. Fleming's wide-ranging and exciting life inevitably provided the plausible backdrop for his Bond novels. Highly regarded in British naval intelligence for his international contacts, he master-minded numerous top secret operations, including ''Golden Eye,'' which is uncovered here for the first time. He was also fundamental in shaping the prototype CIA. Two months before his wedding to Ann O'Neill, the widow of a friend with whom he'd carried on a passionate affair for fifteen years, Fleming sat down to write his first book, Casino Royale, in order to soothe his nerves. Thus began the long line of Bond novels for which he would earn lasting fame.

Ian Fleming: The Man Behind James Bond

Humor & Entertainment

Blackstone Audiobooks

We all know who James Bond is, but how many of us know much about his creator, Ian Fleming, a master of espionage and thrillers? In this full-length biography, author Andrew Lycett tells the story of Ian Fleming's life proving that it was just as dramatic as that of his fictional creation. Educated at Eaton and Sandhurst, he joined Naval Intelligence in 1939 participating in both Operation Mincemeat and Operation Golden Eye. After the war, he became a journalist and, in 1953, wrote Casino Royale thereby introducing the world to an English spy named James Bond.\nSet in London, Switzerland and Fleming's Jamaican estate Goldeneye, his life was peopled with luminaries like Noel Coward, Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Bond film producer "Cubby" Broccoli and others. With direct access to Fleming's family and friends, Lycett goes behind the complicated façade of this enigmatic and remarkable man. Ian Fleming by Andrew Lycett is biography at its best—a glittering portrait of the brilliant and enigmatic man who created Agent 007.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Andrew Lycett. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Andrew Lycett

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Andrew Lycett. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Dylan Thomas : A New Life

Ian Fleming

Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling

Dylan Thomas

Ian Fleming: The Man Behind James Bond (Library Edition)

Ian Fleming: The Man Behind James Bond

Ian Fleming