{"product_id":"2026100011274-secondhand-clea","title":"Clea","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Fair\u003cbr\u003eJacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage\u003cbr\u003ePages: Yellowed\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe sun-drenched, morally labyrinthine city of Alexandria serves as both stage and character in Clea, the magnificent fourth and final volume of Lawrence Durrell's legendary Alexandria Quartet — a novel that brings its narrator, the writer Darley, back to the city after years of exile, only to find that war has transformed both the place and its inhabitants beyond recognition. Returning to the woman he once loved and the bohemian world of artists, diplomats, and lovers he left behind, Darley must confront the nature of memory, time, and creative identity, all while navigating a renewed and profound connection with the luminous painter Clea Montis.\n\nDurrell's prose achieves here a rare symphonic richness, blending the sensory opulence of the Mediterranean with a deeply philosophical inquiry into the relativity of truth and the multiplicity of human perspective — themes that defined the entire Quartet and secured its place as one of the towering achievements of twentieth-century English literature. Where the preceding volumes — Justine, Balthazar, and Mountolive — dismantled and reconstructed the same events through radically different eyes, Clea moves the narrative forward in time, offering something closer to resolution, yet never surrendering its essential mystery. For readers who have journeyed this far with Durrell, the final pages leave an indelible mark; for those yet to begin, they represent a destination well worth the voyage.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50573286179035,"sku":"2026100011274-SECONDHAND","price":25.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/17c97a9f-f049-4f82-ae66-477293f6d6c4.png?v=1791167914","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026100011274-secondhand-clea","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}