A biography of Paul Bowles, the famously enigmatic writer-composer. It questions the biographer's role, the subject's credibility, and the very nature of 'truth' in the telling of a life. It talks of Bowles' difficult childhood and of his grief over his wife's - the author Jane Bowles, who died in 1973 - illness, of exile, dreams, and madness.
"Less a biography than a meditation on the curious nature of biography and on the even more curious nature of Paul Bowles. Brilliantly done, and intensely interesting."-Alice Adams
"[I love the Paul Bowles biography.] A seriously innovative biography about a fascinating literary figure, an exotic locale, the haunting ghost of Jane Bowles, and an endearing and important biographer. Any of these ingredients would be enough to recommend it; altogether, a brilliant book."-Diane Johnson
"I am impressed by the honesty, lucidity, and maturity in every sentence. This stunning pas de deux by two wary, relentlessly intelligent people is a delicious reading experience."-Phillip Lopate, author of Portrait of my Body and Art of the Personal Essay
"Millicent Dillon brilliantly manages to turn her difficulties with the notorious elusiveness of Paul Bowles, and of Tangiers, into the most revealing account ever given of his personality and his achievements. It's a fascinating, exhilirating book."-Richard Poirier
