Bruce Chatwin's death from AIDS in 989 brought a meteoric career to an abrupt end. His reputation as a storyteller has grown over the last decade, and his exquisite, subtle texts continue to inspire readers all over the world. 'Of my contemporaries he had the most erudite and possibly the most brilliant mind I ever came across, 'says Salman Rushdie. The books that followed his first success with IN PATAGONIA confirmed his statue as a major writer able to reinvent himself constantly. Bruce Chatwin was diffeent things to different people: a director at Sotherby's an archeaologist a journalist, photographer and art-collector. Married for 23 years, he was also an active homosexual. He was at once a socialite, mixing with the rich and famous, and a loner who explored the limits of extreme sollitude. In 1991, Nicholas Shakespeare was given unrestricted access to Chatwin's private notebooks, diaries and letters. Across five continents he has gathered evidence from Chatwin's friends, family, hosts, ememies and lovers. Looking for Chatwin behind the masks, he has written the definitive biography of one of the msot charistmatic and elusive literary figures of our time.