Famous Faces Famous Places Famous Food

Great authors have always left their mark on their landscapes. In Famous Faces, Famous Places & Famous Food, Victoria Brooks travels the planet in search of them, illuminating their fascinating lives with the exotic, sometimes erotic ink of their chosen lands. This collection of biographical and culinary wanderlust includes her personal experience with the amazing and lively Arthur C. Clarke in terrorist-torn Sri Lanka, her heart-wrenching visit with the late literary beacon Paul Bowles in seedy Tangier, and a visit with mystery writer and steeplechaser Dick Francis in the banker's haven of Grand Cayman.

When her subjects are already taken by time, she evokes their stories through real people and places: escapist Graham Greene and a little street urchin in Saigon; Ian Fleming and Noel Coward's seduction by that siren island, Jamaica; Hemingway's decadent rum-splashed Havana; John P. Marquand's polite yet dangerous Mr. Moto's China; a tourist take on Robert James Waller's "Puerto Vallarta Squeeze," and more. Each of these famous people has left a legacy to the reader and a windfall to the traveler.

Incorporated in this eminently readable treat is a feast of food and drink recipes collected from the modern kitchens of landmark restaurants, bars, and historic hotels. Readers can chat with Sir Arthur C. Clarke about love and war, then sit with him at the oldest hostelry west of the Nile while dining on Grilled Fillet of Lamb and sipping a Colombo Cool Breeze. Fascinating chitchat about Papa Hemingway's peccadilloes accompanies Drunken Crab.

The lush photographs evoke the scene further. Marvel over Fidel Castro, the handsome mountain guerilla, as well as Habana Viejo's peeling pastel and charming little Fidels. Toss in Noel Coward with our favorite 007, Sean Connery. Saigon's steamy streets. Dick Francis's seaside sunset.

A brilliant introduction both to the authors and to their landscape through their lives and the setting of their books.