The bright summer sun faded into the shimmering Mediterranean as the young American painter began what was to be the five most perfect hours of his lifetime. It would be more than just an affair, a passionate encounter, and yet it would come to nothing. It would be a period of total enchantment that would remain to haunt him for the rest of his life, affecting his career, his code of behaviour, his entire existence. He sensed all this and yet he went to her, this woman he loved, this woman who could never be his...

Alec Waugh, 1898-1981, was a British novelist born in London and educated at Sherborne Public School, Dorset. Waugh's first novel, The Loom of Youth (1917), is a semi-autobiographical account of public school life that caused some controversy at the time and led to his expulsion. Waugh was the only boy ever to be expelled from The Old Shirburnian Society. Despite setting this record, Waugh went on to become the successful author of over 50 works, and lived in many exotic places throughout his life which later became the settings for some of his texts. He was also a noted wine connoisseur and campaigned to make the cocktail party a regular feature of 1920s social life.