When I read the last words of Clea, I was disappointed. Disappointed because the story ended and because I had to leave Alexandria. Durrell describes it with such great passion and tenderness, that during some passages I was moved and almost teary-eyed. The glimmering sea, dusty streets, hedonistic carnivals, Arabic quarters... All that refused to leave my mind alone whenever I had to stop reading, due to boring everyday necessities. The four books gradually reveal the stories of Alexandria's people, those who are changed by the city. Despite however macabre their fates might be, Durrell's writing makes it seem beautiful and maybe slightly melancholic. All of their lives are tangled up in a huge web that spreads over Egypt and which is a catalyst for the events, events that represent the difficulty of loving someone, in all forms possible.