Controversy and colour enveloped Hilaire Belloc as completely as the black cloak he habitually wore. He was quarrelsome and his literary feuds were as garguantuan as his friendships were profound and throughout his sense of humour always prevailed. Born in France, Belloc served in the French army when he was 18 and, pursuing the woman he loved, he walked to Los Angeles from New York just before going up to Oxford. He quickly made a reputation with his novels, essays and poems, but it is for his flamboyant way of living, which reads like a novel that he will be remembered. Having had full access to all the Belloc archives, A.N. Wilson gives an unprecedented view of Belloc's married life, his friendships, and the movement of mind in this biography.