Justine: Lawrence Durrell

Rediscover one of the twentieth century`s greatest romances: this seductive tale of four tangled lovers in wartime Egypt, introduced by Andre Aciman (Call Me By Your Name and Find Me), is `wonderful` (Elif Shafak)

I remembered Justine saying harshly as she lay in bed: `We use each other like axes to cut down the ones we really love`.

Alexandria: the great winepress of love. Trams, palm trees, and watermelon stalls lie honey-bathed in sunlight; in darkened bedrooms, sweaty lovers unfurl. But in a world trembling on the brink of war, passion and death are inextricable. When a penniless schoolteacher begins an affair with Justine - a married Egyptian lady of unparalleled glamour - their partners are sucked into a whirlpool of jealousy and violence.

One of the world`s greatest romances, rich in political and sexual intrigue, Lawrence Durrell`s scandalous `investigation of modern love` set the world alight in 1957 and - as Andre Aciman reveals - it burns just as brightly today.