Gavin Maxwell: a life

Gavin Maxwell was a romantic, self-destructive, aristocratic adventurer who worked as secret agent, shark fisherman, racing driver, poet and travel writer.

His books on Iraq, Sicily and Morocco were acclaimed, but his fame as a writer rested on his bestselling story of the otters he raised and lived with in a remote cottage on the west coast of Scotland, Ring of Bright Water.

Maxwell's private life was every bit as turbulent. His essential homosexuality was masked by the love of a number of women, for whom he was a serially unsatisfactory partner.

This authorized biography is a magnificent evocation of the man, his time and the animals and places that formed such an important part of it.

Never was the simple life of a nature-loving conservationist pursued by so complicated a character.