Marcel Proust: A Life

Selected by New York Times Book Review as a Best Book Since 2000

Based on a wealth of letters, memoirs, workbooks, and manuscripts unavailable before, the book examines Proust's character and development as an artist, the glittering Parisian world of which he was a part, and the passions that enabled him to write his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time.

"Serious, thoughtful, well-balanced, well-informed. . . . Carter is the kind of reader Proust hoped for, one who understands that a great work compels us to become better readers of ourselves."--Victor Brombert, Los Angeles Times

"An impeccably researched and well-paced narrative that brings vividly and credibly to life not only the writer himself but also the changing world he knew."--Roger Pearson, New York Times Book Review