Lovers : Great Romances of Our Time

Each of the fifty profiles is an intimate pairing: Lauren Bacall on her relationship with Humphrey Bogart; A.

Alvarez on the beautiful, sad days of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath; Katharine Hepburn on her stormy life with Spencer Tracy.

Lovers also includes contributions from George Burns, Dylan Thomas, Jimmy Carter, and John Gregory Dunne.

Every written piece is accompanied by a lush full-bleed portrait of the couple, by such noted photographers as Cecil Beaton, Bruce Weber, Bert Stern, and Annie Leibovitz.

Lovers is a book about the fire of true love -- the undeniable longing that makes two people the desire of each other's life.

Sometimes it comes in fiery flashes like Burton and Taylor; sometimes in the hear of a season like Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo; sometimes in a deep, lasting bond of Newman and Woodward; and sometimes in a long, sad trajectory like Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

Yet these loves last forever. As Frank Sinatra said of Ava Gardner: "She was my life."