THE FOLIO SOCIETY

‘Speed … tremendous zest … communicated excitement. Brrh! How wincingly well Mr Fleming writes’
THE SUNDAY TIMES

From the moment he climbs out of a limousine in New York, James Bond captures the reader’s imagination – handsome, charming and a master of the art of good living. A critic once noted that if you asked a Freudian psychoanalyst and an advertising agency to create a hero most likely to appeal to the male psyche, James Bond would be the result. And certainly, most men would confess to the odd daydream of being Bond, just as most women would admit they might appreciate his company occasionally. Live and Let Die does not depend solely upon Bond’s appeal. Fleming was a gifted writer, whipping the narrative along at a pace many authors must wish they could emulate. The original reviewer in The Observer warned, ‘Don’t blame me if you get a stroke!’ And indeed it has one of the most exciting, if forgivably implausible, plots ever written. Fleming was endlessly inventive, from the octopus that warns Mr Big of Bond’s approach, to the death Mr Big devises for Solitaire and Bond – roped together naked and dragged across knife-sharp coral into deep water where the sharks are waiting …

‘An ingenious affair full of recondite knowledge and horrific spills and thrills’
THE TIMES

One of the classics of modern fiction, Live and Let Die was the second of Fleming’s Bond novels, and the one in which he found his stride, introducing many of the details and character twists which would turn Bond into the cultural icon he is today.

This handsome edition is illustrated by the young artist Lyndon Hayes, an emerging talent, whose pictures demonstrate his flair for drama and an edgy composition style. As he commented on the project, ‘Who wouldn’t find working with Bond exciting?’.