Ian Fleming

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This biography offers a fresh portrait of Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, highlighting his enduring impact on culture. Award-winning biographer Nicholas Shakespeare, with unprecedented access to Fleming family papers, reveals the complexities of Fleming's life, which go beyond his famous character. Fleming's childhood, marked by his gifted brother Peter and extraordinary mother, shaped his ambition to be 'the complete man.' Throughout his life, he sought the means to achieve this ideal. Though he only wrote thrillers for the last twelve years of his life, his dramatic personal experiences and impressive career in Naval Intelligence placed him at crucial moments in history, providing rich inspiration for his fiction. Exceptionally well-connected and widely traveled—from the United States and Soviet Russia to his beloved Jamaica—Fleming interacted with powerful political figures during a time of significant change. Shakespeare's talent for uncovering new material casts fresh light on Fleming, making this biography an eye-opening exploration of both the man and his iconic creation.