In each novel, Bond has his fair share of trysts and flirtations, but his most serious love interests, Vesper Lynd (Casino Royale) and Tracy Di Vicenzo (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service), both meet tragic ends. And his lasting attachments to Tiffany Case (Diamonds Are Forever) and Kissy Suzuki (You Only Live Twice) are curtailed by Bond’s sense of duty as an 00 agent. This cocktail pays homage to the poignancy of love and loss which marked the lives of both Fleming and his hero. The refined complexity of extra-old cognac forms the base, with crème de mûre and parfait amour adding floral and berry notes strongly associated with romance. However, as Bond and Fleming knew better than most, love is bittersweet, and the addition of Cocchi Rosa and Campari add astringency and complexity, and turn the drink deep red.
30ml (1fl oz) Hennessy XO (or other premium cognac)
2 teaspoons Campari
2 teaspoons crème de mûre
40ml (1½fl oz) Cocchi Americano Rosa (or other red vermouth)
3 dashes of parfait amour
strip of lemon peel
TO GARNISH
rose petal
Measure the liquid ingredients into a frosted mixing glass and top up with ice. Stir until very cold, then strain into a frosted coupette. Spritz the lemon peel over the glass to express the oils and discard, then garnish with a floating rose petal.
A WHISPER OF LOVE
Bond softly exhaled a cloud of tobacco smoke. He still had a chance. Now he was really faced with the moment of truth. Le Chiffre slapped the shoe, slipped out a card, Bond’s fate, and slowly turned it face up. It was a nine, a wonderful nine of hearts, the card known in gipsy magic as “a whisper of love, a whisper of hate”, the card that meant almost certain victory for Bond.
CASINO ROYALE
CHAPTER 13. “A WHISPER OF LOVE, A WHISPER OF HATE”
Vesper looked at him thoughtfully.
“People are islands,” she said. “They don’t really touch. However close they are, they’re really quite separate. Even if they’ve been married for fifty years.”
Bond thought with dismay that she must be going into a “vin triste”. Too much Champagne had made her melancholy. But suddenly she gave a happy laugh. “Don’t look so worried.” She leaned forward and put her hand over his. “I was only being sentimental. Anyway, my island feels very close to your island tonight.” She took a sip of Champagne.
CASINO ROYALE
CHAPTER 24. “FRUIT DÉFENDU”
They were talking on the threshold of Vesper’s room. When the proprietor left them, Bond pushed her inside and closed the door. Then he put his hands on her shoulders and kissed her on both cheeks.
“This is heaven,” he said.
Then he saw that her eyes were shining. Her hands came up and rested on his forearms. He stepped right up against her and his arms dropped round her waist. Her head went back and her mouth opened beneath his.
CASINO ROYALE
CHAPTER 23. TIDE OF PASSION
“Tracy. I love you. Will you marry me?”
She turned very pale. She looked at him wonderingly. Her lips trembled. “You mean that?”
“Yes, I mean it. With all my heart.”
ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE
CHAPTER 19. LOVE FOR BREAKFAST
“Don’t worry about me, my darling,” she had said when the men came for them. “I am happy to be with you again. My heart is full of it. For some reason I am not afraid although there is much death very close. Do you love me a little?”
“Yes,” said Bond. “And we shall have our love.”
LIVE AND LET DIE
CHAPTER 22. TERROR BY SEA
There is an eclipse of the moon tonight and I suppose that is why I am writing to you. My love, I think you are sitting in your small room with your tiny life gathered round you like the folds of a warm and pretty skirt. I think you are a consumptive dragonfly in Hackney Marshes and, as an obstinate water-lily among the prevailing moss, I hope you will stay on my leaf and keep the flies off – even though you may munch holes in me until I wither.
IN A LETTER TO ANN, WHOM FLEMING LATER MARRIED, 1946
Bond’s mother is named Monique, in homage to Monique Panchaud de Bottomes, to whom Fleming was engaged in the 1930s.
Before Fleming married Ann Rothermere, he had suggested marriage to Maud Russell, an art collector and society hostess who was 16 years his senior. Maud refused the proposal, claiming the age gap made a long-term attachment impossible.
Fleming’s girlfriend during the 1940s, Muriel Wright – affectionately nicknamed Mu Mu – died tragically when a bomb blast threw a piece of masonry into her room. Fleming identified her body and never forgave himself for not having treated her better.
Fleming married his long-term lover Ann Rothermere in 1952. However, the passion that had sustained their love affair fizzled out toward the end of their years together.