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Portrait image of John Fowles Photo: Ulf Andersen / Hulton Archive via Getty Images (1987)

Sample of authors

Fowles, John

John Robert Fowles was born in a middle-class family in the Essex town of Leigh-on-Sea. His father, Robert Fowles, dreamt of a career in the legal profession, but when the First World War broke out he was instead forced to take over the family's tobacco business. His mother, Gladys May, was a housewife. Fowles grew up in the security of a terraced housing estate, but later in life he confessed...

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Literary figures

Kommissarie Modeste Laviolette

Gender: Male

The somewhat misanthropic and contemplative Inspector Modeste Laviolette is working in Provence. He is overweight and he loves food and champagne. He has followed in his grandfather’s footsteps; his grandfather was chief of police. Laviolette is a bachelor and animal lover who lives with his housekeeper Chabassut and her 14 cats – he takes care of them after her death – in a string of novels by Pi...

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