Ian Fleming Introduces Jamaica

Ian Fleming spent part of every year at "Goldeneye", his Jamaican house in which he wrote all the James Bond books. He loved Jamaica and used to regret that there was no book on it which he considered worthy. His friend Morris Cargill, the distinguished Jamaican journalist and broadcaster, urged him to write one himself. Ian Fleming had no time, but he offered to plan one with Morris Cargill, and to contribute to it: a book after his own heart, saying all that he wished to say about this lovely place in which he was so happy. After many conversations at "Goldeneye" a 'team' was collected: Ian Fleming to open the book, of course, with an account of his own relationship with Jamaica and a general picture of the pleasures of living there; Morris Cargill and the novelist John Hearne to fill in the background, historical and human; and ten other writers, either Jamaican or long-term residents in the island, chosen because of their special knowledge of and enthusiasm for various aspects of it. This team has produced a book which covers many things:the island's history, its people, its politics, its religions and dialects, its natural history, its birds, its painters and writers, its archives, its stamps, and the delights of skin-diving in its waters and eating its food. There are also appendices containing practical information for the visitor and the prospective resident. A particularly fine feature of the book is the way it is illustrated:25 pages and a frntis of specially taken photographs which give a seductive all-round impression of Jamaica's beauty and of the life lived against this dazzling background.It is tragic that Ian Fleming did not live to see the completion of this book, having died in August 1964. We believe that it fulfils his wish, and is indeed worthy of the island to which he gave, and from which he received, so much affection. Fleming provides 11pp intro.