{"product_id":"monsieur-or-the-prince-of-darkness-by-lawrence-durrell","title":"'Monsieur; or, The Prince of Darkness' by Lawrence Durrell","description":"\u003ch4 data-start=\"369\" data-end=\"739\"\u003e\n\u003cem data-start=\"369\" data-end=\"407\"\u003eMonsieur; or, The Prince of Darkness\u003c\/em\u003e opens Lawrence Durrell’s \u003cem data-start=\"433\" data-end=\"450\"\u003eAvignon Quintet\u003c\/em\u003e, shifting the centre of his fictional universe from Alexandria to Avignon.\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"369\" data-end=\"739\"\u003eAround a decaying château near the city, Durrell gathers doctors, siblings, lovers, mystics, suicides, and conspirators into a novel of Gnostic cults, Templar shadows, erotic entanglement, and narrative trapdoors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"741\" data-end=\"1092\"\u003eIt’s a strange, theatrical book: part metaphysical mystery, part postwar European fever dream, part literary machine built out of mirrors and bad decisions. Best for readers drawn to Durrell, modernist afterlives, mythic fiction, and novels where nobody can enter a room without dragging in twelve symbolic systems and at least one doomed love affair.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1118\" data-end=\"1270\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst UK edition, Faber hardback, 1974. Very good in dust jacket, with light jacket wear, mild toning, and faint foxing\/spotting to edges and endpapers.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"bower studio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44986754826323,"sku":null,"price":35.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0689\/0268\/2707\/files\/Yourparagraphtext-2026-05-31T173254.012.png?v=1780213285","url":"https:\/\/bowerbooks.com\/products\/monsieur-or-the-prince-of-darkness-by-lawrence-durrell","provider":"bower books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}