This combination of autobiography, art history and social chronicle has been widely and favourably reviewed in hardback, with good reason. John Richardson has gained fame as Picasso's finest biographer - indeed his work in this field (still in progress) puts all competitors out of sight. His social-cum-sexual association with the art historian and celebrity collector Douglas Cooper began in London but they were soon domiciled in a vast Provencal chateau full of Modernist art works, where Picasso was a frequent guest. Cooper, a much older man, was devastated when Richardson left him and he took full revenge after his own bitchy fashion. Though full of name-dropping and gossip, as well as a good leavening of malice, the book has genuine style and panache as well as the hallmarks of an incisive intelligence. It must surely rank high in the considerable literature about Picasso.