abstract:Constance, published in 1982 and sub-titled Solitary Practices, is the central volume of the five novels of Lawrence Durrell's The Avignon Quintet. Although the first chapter continues in Avignon, where the previous novel, Livia, left off, and details Constance's blossoming relationship with Sam, the clouds of war are looming and with it the breakup of the group whose last summer together there was depicted in Livia.