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. He is married and divides his time between London and south-west France. His most recent novel, Trio, was a Sunday Times bestseller.
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*
Packed with passion, adventure, suspense, comic interludes and a
range of colourful characters . . . the rollicking work of a
masterful storyteller, The Romantic is both a vivid portrait of a
life and a sweeping panorama of an age
*Economist*
The Romantic is certainly a crowd-pleaser . . . Boyd knows how to
time the hights and lows, how to blend triumphs and tragedies,
personal and historical . . . genuinely poignant and wise
*Sunday Times*
A satisfyingly meaty novel in the rich vein of his earlier classics
The New Confessions and Any Human Heart. As we have come to expect,
here is exceptional storytelling - pristine, immersive, and
intoxicating. The elegant prose is characteristically detailed and
precise . . . It has the expansiveness of many classic 19th century
novels. There's a Dickensian warmth and verve, an epic scale, a
spirited sense of chance and adventure. Boyd as ever stresses
period detail, and the novel is as informative as it is
entertaining . . . It is bravura, high octane stuff, eventful and
sometimes on the edge of chaos
*Irish Examiner*
A panoramic and deeply satisfying narrative from an author on top
form
*Mail on Sunday*
It's tremendously entertaining and, as always with Boyd, virtually
impossible to stop reading
*Daily Mirror*
A globe-trotting adventure through the 19th century
*i, Best Books for Autumn*
Boyd's pile-up of set piece escapades offers a huge amount of
fun
*Daily Mail*
Boyd's books are so enjoyable that it's hard for us to resent the
tricks being played on us, even as we find ourselves constantly
reaching for Google, wanting to know what is and isn't real
*TLS*
There's a cornucopia of fine things here . . . The Romantic, always
enjoyable, ranks with two of his best: The New Confessions and Any
Human Heart. Both were intelligent and engrossing, novels you lived
with. Both told a fine story very well. The Romantic does just
that
*Scotsman*
A ripping yarn. And as such, it is pretty much faultless: as
moreish as good chocolate, terrifically entertaining, and deeply
humane
*i*
A huge amount of fun
*Daily Mail (Ireland)*
One of our best contemporary storytellers
*Spectator*
A narrative that Charles Dickens or Jane Austen would surely have
been happy to claim as their own . . . there's a joy to Boyd's
storytelling throughout and his hero is one to cheer for
*Business Post (Ireland)*
A wonderful tale that spans a life of adventure, this is
storytelling at its very best
*Best*
Crammed with incident, the novel has the wonderfully freewheeling
quality that one associates with the great 19th-century novelists.
As with most of Boyd's works, it manages to be warm-hearted and
deliciously sardonic at the same time
*Literary Review*
William Boyd taps into the classic novel tradition with this
sweeping tale of one man's century-spanning life
*Spectator*
There is no doubt that Boyd is a masterful storyteller . . . this
is a book to get totally, utterly and delightfully lost in
*Anna Bonet*
A new novel by William Boyd is always a treat and in his picaresque
latest, The Romantic, his hero is Cashel Greville Ross, born in
1799, a soldier, lover, friend of poets, bankrupt and adventurer
who is swept into many of the most important episodes of the 19th
century
*Oldie*
This highly entertaining, engrossing page-turner is the
fictionalised biography of Cashel Greville Ross, who was born in
1799 in Scotland and brought up in Cork. Such is William Boyd's
mastery as a storyteller, one begins to believe that all of the
events are entirely real
*Sunday Independent*
The Romantic is a rollicking read that will delight his many
fans
*i*
A wild ride across the 19th century on the back of a narrative that
never pauses for breath . . . this breakneck pace seems to be a
function of Boyd's exceptional imaginative facility, which sees him
just as irresistibly drawn to new ideas as his hero is
*Financial Times*
What could be more reassuring in troubling times than a new William
Boyd novel? Trio is immensely readable, its descriptions full of
light and colour, its humour spot on, its mood a perfect mix of
frolicsome and melancholy
*Sunday Telegraph on Trio*
Reading William Boyd's Trio is like shrugging on a worn leather
jacket on the first brisk morning of autumn: cosy but cool . . . He
has enormous fun with the worlds - and egos - of page and
screen
*The Times on Trio*
Breakneck pace seems to be a function of Boyd's exceptional
imaginative facility, which sees him just as irresistibly drawn to
new ideas as his hero is . . . there's something irresistible about
that energy . . . if a whole-life novel is intended to represent
the span of a unique existence, then The Romantic gets it right
*FT*
The Romantic is a whole-life novel, a form in which Boyd excels . .
. a terrific read
*Country & Town House*
Picaresque, big-hearted and moving, this is Boyd at the top of his
game
*Guardian*
![]() |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
![]() |