For Your Eyes Only: Discover the short stories behind your favourite James Bond films

Description

There is only one Bond. Enjoy these intoxicating spy novels in stylish Vintage Classics editions. There's no better time to rediscover James Bond. Who killed an elderly couple in their Caribbean home? M knows exactly who did it, but the murderers will most likely escape through a twisted net of global politics. The solution? M. calls in a personal favour from a certain licensed killer who understands the kind of rough justice needed. Bond soon discovers he's not the only one on the hunt, and the lines between revenge and justice become blurred... Also includes the stories that inspired the films Quantum of Solace and From a View to a Kill 'Bond is a hero for all time' Jeffrey Deaver

Ian Lancaster Fleming was born in London on 28 May 1908 and was educated at Eton College before spending a formative period studying languages in Europe. His first job was with Reuters news agency, followed by a brief spell as a stockbroker. On the outbreak of the Second World War he was appointed assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence, Admiral Godfrey, where he played a key part in British and Allied espionage operations. After the war he joined Kemsley Newspapers as Foreign Manager of the Sunday Times, running a network of correspondents who were intimately involved in the Cold War. His first novel, Casino Royale, was published in 1953 and introduced James Bond, Special Agent 007, to the world. The first print run sold out within a month. Following this initial success, he published a Bond title every year until his death. His own travels, interests and wartime experience gave authority to everything he wrote. Raymond Chandler hailed him as 'the most forceful and driving writer of thrillers in England.' The fifth title, From Russia with Love, was particularly well received and sales soared when President Kennedy named it as one of his favourite books. The Bond novels have sold more than sixty million copies and inspired a hugely successful film franchise which began in 1962 with the release of Dr No starring Sean Connery as 007. The Bond books were written in Jamaica, a country Fleming fell in love with during the war and where he built a house, 'Goldeneye'. He married Anne Rothermere in 1952. His story about a magical car, written in 1961 for their only child Caspar, went on to become the well-loved novel and film, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Fleming died of heart failure on 12 August 1964, aged fifty-six. www.ianfleming.com

Mr Fleming's licensed assassin is in good form... Few men can have been able to mix business with pleasure so successfully as Bond * Times Literary Supplement * Exotic, resilient and potent * Kirkus * Urbane savagery and mighty smooth tale spinning * New York Herald Tribune * Good juicy violence... the girls as wild and luscious as ever * The Times *