Georges Simenon was, during his lifetime, the
bestselling writer alive. He created Chief Inspector
Maigret, one of the most-loved and sanest characters in
modern fiction, but was himself an alcoholic, a
fantasist, a man possessed by the demon of sexual
jealousy, a crime writer whose own life was haunted by
the possibility of crime. His stated ideal was family
life, but he conducted a quarrel with his widowed mother
that lasted for 50 years, and his own family life ended
in catastrophe with the suicide of his daughter. He
married twice and seduced hundreds of women, including
Josephine Baker. Simenon's writing life was in itself
quite a story. He wrote 193 novels under his own name
and 200 under 17 pseudonyms. His sales were over 500
million in 55 languages. His admirers ranged from Celine
and Colette to T.S.Eliot, Somerset Maugham, Fellini and
George Steiner. The author, in this first portrait since
Simenon's death, sets out to explain the connections
between his childhood and his lifelong fascination with
crime, and traces the relationship between the facts of
his life and the tormented fiction he wrote. The author
has interviewed many of the people who knew him, and has
drawn upon Simenon's letters, papers and copious
writings to produce this biography. Patrick Marnham's
books include "Fantastic Invasion: Dispatches from
Contemporary Africa", "So far from God: A Journey to
Central America" and "Trail of Havoc: In the Steps of
Lord Lucan".
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