Dirk Bogarde: 15 books

First published in 1998, For the Time Being brings together Dirk Bogarde's published work outside of his novels and autobiographies In 1988, Dirk Bogarde returned from two idyllic decades in France to live in England, due to his partner's serious illness. Shortly afterwards, the then literary...

First published in 1983, An Orderly Man is volume three of Dirk Bogarde's best-selling memoirs After completing work on Visconti's Death in Venice, the celebrated actor seeks a refuge from 20 years of 'continual motion'. This dream of a peaceful retreat materialises itself in the form of a...

First published in 1989, A Particular Friendship follows Dirk Bogarde's first four memoirs This epistolary collection finds Bogarde at his most honest and touching, engaging in conversation with a woman he has never met, and whose only interest in him comes from the simple fact that he now...

First published in 1977, A Postillion Struck by Lightning is volume one of Dirk Bogarde's best-selling memoirs Following Bogarde from childhood through adolescence, to the beginnings of his budding career, A Postillion Struck by Lightning is a heartfelt memoir, offering insight into what created...

First published in 1978, Snakes and Ladders is volume two of Dirk Bogarde's best-selling memoirs Snakes and Ladders follows Bogarde from the challenges of his army training camp at Catterick, through the horrors of war, to his glittering – if often trying – film career. We see the thoughtful...

Originally published in 1980, this is Dirk Bogarde's first novel. In the uneasy aftermath of WWII, a group of ordinary British soldiers and their families find themselves stationed as peacekeepers at an outpost in the Java Sea. Whilst attempting to return the island to Dutch control, they are...

First published in 1997, Cleared for Take-Off is the seventh and final volume of Dirk Bogarde's best-selling memoirs During his many reconnaissance missions in Europe and the Far East, the young Bogarde experienced the terror of enemy attack and the horror of its aftermath, together with the...

First published in 1993, A Short Walk from Harrods is volume six of Dirk Bogarde's best-selling memoirs Forced to return to London because of his manager and his partner's rapidly deteriorating health, Bogarde learned to re-adapt to life in the west London neighbourhoods that groomed him as...

First published in 1986, Backcloth is volume four of Dirk Bogarde's best-selling memoirs Filling the gaps left between his previous memoirs, as well as highlighting new episodes, Backcloth explores the patterns of pleasure and pain that have made up Bogarde's extraordinary life. Based...

First published in 1984, this is Dirk Bogarde's third novel. Set in the shadow of Hollywood opulence – the gaudy wastes of Los Angeles – West of Sunset is a sharp and potent satire of movie-making America. However, the excessive glitter is embedded in a deeper plot about a successful man's...

First published in 1992, Great Meadow is volume five of Bogarde's best-selling memoirs Employing both the language and lucidity of the young boy that he evokes, the actor turned author, Dirk Bogarde, presents us with a charming recollection of his childhood. From 1927 to 1934 he lived in a...

First published in 1997, this is Dirk Bogarde's sixth and final novel. The Grayles have lived at Hartleap since Canute. They know this and are proud of the fact. Now they stand around the deathbed of their longest-serving nanny who is about to slip away. Ada Stephens – known as Nanny...

First published in 1991, this is Dirk Bogarde's fourth novel. With his divorce proceedings looming, writer William Caldicott is in desperate need of some respite. As fate would have it, he receives a cryptic letter of farewell from his estranged brother James, along with the keys to James'...

First published 1981, this is Dirk Bogarde's second novel. The fabulous but wavering old Lady "Cuckoo†? Peverill, lives with her husband, Napoleon-mad military historian, Archie. Dissatisfied and overcome by sheer boredom, she ventures down to the lake at the edge of their estate, pockets...