A set of four novels written by Lawrence Durrell, set in Alexandria of Egypt before and during World War II.

The novels are about (and I am very ashamed of this one-line summary, but it will have to suffice) love, religion, war and political commitment - and also some mysticism. They are also about Egypt. You should be reading them right now if you haven't already read them, so go off and read them instead of wasting time in front of this silly monitor.

Still there ? I guessed so. Anyway, beyond the plot (which is very good) the interest of the novels lies in the fact that the facts and events are progressively revealed to the narrator (and the reader).

In fact, you end the first novel with an impression of some characters (Nessim and Justine, for example) which is completely different from what you will probably think at the end.
The same happens with facts: the man the narrator glimpses through a frosted pane of glass in the first novel changes identity (and meaning) in the third novel.

If you like complex, well written structures you will like this tetralogy which I rank (with the full, crushing, weight of my authority) as one of the best pieces of literary work I have been exposed to, right there with The Portrait of a Lady and Remembrance of Time Past.

The AQ is remarkable in that the four novels are different takes on events that happen in Alexandria. Justine (seen from the point of view of Darley), Balthazar (from the point of viw of Balthazar) and Clea are written in first person narrative, whereas Mountolive is written in the third person. Lawrence Durrell mentions somewhere that the 4 novels represent the space time dimensions. Three of space(i.e parallel novels) and the fourth(Clea-a sequel) of time.

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