William Boyd was born in 1952 in Accra, Ghana, and grew up there and in Nigeria. He is the author of sixteen highly acclaimed, bestselling novels and five collections of stories. Any Human Heart was longlisted for the Booker Prize and adapted into a TV series with Channel 4. In 2005, Boyd was awarded the CBE. He is married and divides his time between London and south-west France.
The Romantic by William Boyd was the novel I enjoyed most this
year. It's incredibly ambitious, its hero moving from Co Cork to
London, then from Waterloo to Zanzibar, and at one point even
joining the East Indian Army, but it was such an easy, indulgent
read
*The Times, Best Books of the Year*
[One of the] most enjoyable new novels I read this year . . . [it]
offers deep pleasure to those who love novels, instruction to
anyone setting out to write one
*Scotsman, Best Books of 2022*
Boyd is as magically readable as ever, and, as always with his
whole life novels, there is an invigorating air of spontaneity
*Telegraph*
William Boyd's The Romantic is disguised a an historical biography
- The Real Life of Cashel Greville Ross - but is actually an
utterly engrossing adventure story . . . Cashel, we understand, is
searching for himself, but in the process he provides romance,
entertainment and enlightenment for his readers. How better to
spend the relaxed days around Xmas than following his footsteps
*Tablet, Books of the Year*
Storytelling is what floats my boat and William Boyd's The
Romantic, a return to his "whole-life" novels, has it in spades.
Following our hero Cashel Greville Ross (Boyd is big on names) from
Ireland to the Battle of Waterloo, then India, Italy, New England,
Africa and beyond, it has enough engrossing variety to fill several
books, not just the one
*The Times, Best Books of 2022*
Cashel ultimately emerges as a one-off - an inimitable character,
whether he knows it or not . . . what is often lost behind the
sheer pleasure brought by [Boyd's] books is their layered
Chekhovian subtleties: Boyd is abundantly talented at capturing
life's disconnections . . . it is intoxicating to be in the company
of a writer who seems to be having such fun
*Guardian*
William Boyd's new novel is one of his best
*Scotsman*
A rambunctious, swashbuckling tale, told with panache by a master
storyteller . . . Those who fall in love with The Romantic may
wonder whether their own lives lack adventure. Surrender to this
fine novel's spell, though, and it will vicariously supply more
than enough thrills for anyone
*Observer*
Boyd's back, baby. The great writer of big, splashy (mostly)
historical adventures has gone all guns blazing on this one . . .
The pages brim with famous names and exotic locations - with
Florentine palazzos, debtors' prisons, scandalous love affairs,
Byron and the Battle of Waterloo . . . pure, joyful escapism
*The Times, Best Fiction Books of 2022*
If it's true escapism you're after, William Boyd can always be
relied upon to transport the reader from reality and his next
offering, The Romantic, another epic that follows Cashel Greville
Ross from 19th-century Country Cork to Zanzibar via Oxford and Sri
Lanka, offers a wonderful literary getaway as the nights draw
in
*Vogue, A Most Promising Page-Turner of the Season*
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