He was an eccentric, an aesthete, and well-versed in art history and literature: William Beckford, the son of a wealthy family, leads an extravagant life in 18th-century England. He throws lavish parties, writes fairy tales about the Orient, and has the castle on his father's estate torn down to build something grander—until money runs out in the end. Norbert Miller vividly depicts, with profound knowledge and astonished sympathy, the quirky figure of a young dandy who created an artificial paradise in the heart of the English countryside.