John Cheever was one of the foremost chroniclers of post-war America, a peerless writer who on his death in 1982 left some of the best short stories of the twentieth century, a number of highly acclaimed novels, and a private journal that runs to an astonishing four million words.

Cheever was a soul in conflict who hid his contradictions alcoholism, secret bisexuality - behind the screen of genial family life in suburbia. In this luminous, definitive work, one of the most gifted biographers of his generation reveals the troubled but strangely lovable man behind these disguises, a creator of timeless fiction.

`An instant classic Philip Hensher, Daily Telegraph Books of the Year

`Lively, funny, informative, astute, masterly. Its impossible to imagine how anyone could have done a better job Blake Morrison, Guardian

`The highlight of my reading year Observer

`I simply cant imagine a better literary biography than this one Spectator