Goldeneye: Where Bond Was Born: Ian Fleming’s Jamaica
About this audiobook
Amid the lush beauty of Jamaica's northern coast lies the true story of Ian Fleming's iconic creation: James Bond.
For two months every year, from 1946 to his death eighteen years later, Ian Fleming lived at Goldeneye, the house he built on a point of high land overlooking a small white-sand beach on Jamaica's stunning north coast. All the James Bond novels and stories were written here.
This book explores the huge influence of Jamaica on the creation of Fleming's iconic postwar hero. The island was for Fleming part retreat from the world, part tangible representation of his values, and part exotic fantasy. Goldeneye also examines Fleming's Jamaican friendships—his extraordinary circle included Errol Flynn, the Oliviers, international politicians, and British royalty, as well as his close neighbor No├1⁄2l Coward—and traces his changing relationship with Ann Charteris (and hers with Jamaica) and the emergence of Blanche Blackwell as his Jamaican soul mate.
Goldeneye also compares the real Jamaica of the 1950s during the buildup to independence with the island's portrayal in the Bond books, to shine a light on the attitude of the likes of Fleming and Coward to the dramatic end of the British Empire.
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About the author
Matthew Parker is a critically acclaimed historian who has written for numerous UK national newspapers, literary and historical magazines, as well as lecturing around the world and contributing to TV and radio programs in the UK, Canada and the US. An elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Parker's books include The Battle of Britain, Monte Cassino, Panama Fever, The Sugar Barons, and Goldeneye: Ian Fleming in Jamaica. Parker lives in east London with his family.
Roy McMillan is a director, writer, actor, and an Earphones Award–winning narrator. Among his audiobook readings are Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, A Dog’s Heart by Mikhail Bulgakov, and The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx.
