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An Ice-cream War |
This fascinating novel, a well-documented history seen through a thin veil of fiction, has a misleading title. Based on an actual letter, it describes the Germans and the British in East Africa who, having lived on their properties as amicable neighbours for years, suddenly find themselves on different sides as WW1 breaks out. This is a gripping story based on real-life Generals and a famous German doctor. A terrific read for those who like war-stories.
(Kathie Somerwil Ayrton - bwl 24 June 2004) |
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Any Human Heart |
Logan Montstuart's story and that of the 20th century is told through the diary he kept intermittently from 1923 to his final years in France. It is so cleverly crafted that encouraged by the discreet footnotes, the list of his works and the index at the back you could be forgiven for believing this is not fiction but a real diary written by a real person. If you enjoyed the recent TV dramatisation, the book is even better.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 59 Winter 2011) |
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Any Human Heart |
The fictional memoirs of aspiring author Logan Mountstuart, whose story told without the benefit of hindsight, brings to the fore the frailties of the human character and life's unpredictable passage. Set against poignant events in the 20C. you take each twist and turn as simple facts of life. Vividly drawn relationships include real historical characters, which rather than being a cheap nod to celebrity, effectively adds to the vitality of the story. Dare I suggest, a modern classic?
(Rebecca Howell - bwl 63 Winter 2013) |
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Brazzaville Beach |
This is a remarkable fictional account of participation in a scientific study of the behaviour of chimpanzees against a background of civil war in the Congo. There are flashbacks to the narrator's matrimonial problems in England where she worked on a historical survey of hedgerows. Combining these unusual elements the author has constructed a compelling story which I strongly recommend.
(Jeremy Swann - bwl 15 October 2002) |
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Love is Blind |
Yes, it's a love story but so much more than that. Set at the end of the 19th century, we follow the fortunes of Brodie Moncur, musician and piano-tuner, as life takes him to Paris, St. Petersburg, Edinburgh and beyond. If you enjoyed Any Human Heart (bwl 59 & 63) this book should delight you with the added bonus that at the end you will feel you might be quite good at tuning a piano. I found it riveting.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 91 Winter 2019) |
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Love is Blind |
Another joy from William Boyd. Similar in style to Any Human Heart and Sweet Caress in as much as it follows lives, loves and losses across the continents. The characters come vividly to life while the storyline is full of suspense. An engrossing read.
(Sue Pratt - bwl 94 Autumn 2019) |
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Restless |
This author's new departure reveals similar talents to those of John le Carré in his best days. Inspired by events during and after WWII, he tells the story of the recruitment into the world of espionage and treason of a Russian immigrant in Paris which she recounts to her daughter in England many years later. The plot is ingeniously constructed, alternating between the daughter's world of today and the mother's life a generation earlier.
(Jeremy Swann - bwl 40 June 2007) |
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Restless |
Grandmother isn't all she seems. Her identity was taken from a blitz victim and she's been on the run since 1942, hunted as a foreign double-agent after a covert operation in America went badly wrong. But now she needs her astonished daughter's help to discover the truth before she too finally suffers the fate of her old wartime colleagues. Her drip-feeding of information hooks both reader and daughter and strange habits begin to make sense.
(Clive Yelf - bwl 49 January 2009) |
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Restless |
This story of a young woman, recruited in 1939 by the British Secret Service, I found a most interesting insight into the mind of a spy. It shows how such a profession permeates the whole person, so that for the rest of her life she cannot avoid the fearful mindset of living under cover,
trusting no one but her own family. It's a story of intrigue, of passion and, ultimately, of betrayal.
(Polly Sams Plant - bwl 49 January 2009) |
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Sweet Caress |
Boyd's done it again - brought the 20th C alive, this time through the lens of a pioneer female photographer. She takes us from childhood trauma to old-age by way of the home counties, London, Berlin, New York, the Blackshirt riots, the Western Front, the Highlands, Vietnam and a Scottish island. Boyd loves tricks - the photos scattered through the text are fakes, so is the quotation on the frontispiece; even the acknowledgements are not to be trusted. Relax, sit back, enjoy the magic!
(Jenny Baker - bwl 83 Winter 2017) |
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The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth |
Seven short and two longer stories. While not usually a fan of short stories they certainly have their place in the scheme of things. Very varied in content, they showcase Boyd's fertile imagination from suspense to comedy. As a self confessed devotee of the author's longer novels I found these a fun, quick read and imagine they would appeal to others who enjoy him.
(Sue Pratt - bwl 93 Summer 2019) |
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The New Confessions |
Sorry bwl but this was not for me, I did not develop any feeling for the J J Rousseau obsessed narrator but he did manage to be part of some very interesting 20th Century events. It was all too contrived (I found that in Any Human Heart too, bwl 59 and 63)) but then I have not yet read Jean Jacques Rousseau's True Confessions, I will report back when I have!
(Chris Cozens - bwl 70 Autumn 2013) |
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The Romantic |
The fictional biography of Cashel Greville Ross - soldier, farmer, felon, writer, father, lover - one man many lives. We move from Ireland to London, from Waterloo to Zanzibar, from Sri Lanka to Pisa and the world of Byron and Shelley to Ravenna where he meets the woman who will haunt his heart. Another treat for fans of Boyd or another to be avoided if you find his books too contrived and full of coincidences! I enjoyed it.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 107 Winter 2023) |
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The Romantic |
The nineteenth century memoirs of a man whose life takes him from Ireland to England, Italy, Africa, the USA, and Austria (Trieste). Along the way he fights at Waterloo and encounters Byron and Shelley, Burton and Speke but it is his inner life – family story, love affairs, ambitions – that command greatest attention. Impulsive and passionate, he gets into numerous scrapes but emerges with sympathetic insights into what it is to live and die. A familiar Boyd formula, occasionally feeling just a little stale as a result, it is nevertheless a cracking read.
(Tony Pratt - bwl 107 Winter 2023) |
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Trio |
1968, a movie-set in Brighton: the director's wife Elfrida a novelist with writer's block, Talbot the producer and American film-star Anny - all have secrets but when the CIA comes knocking, events are precipitated which makes each of them take responsibility for themselves. The narrative switches in quite brief chunks between the trio which I found irritating but this may be due to my brain stagnating because of lockdown. Hey! - it's a William Boyd, it must be good.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 99 Winter 2021) |
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Waiting for Sunrise |
Set in Vienna just before WW I and then in London, France and Geneva during that war, this book is full of period atmosphere as the protagonist, Lysander, gets caught up in espionage with all its subterfuge. Personal dramas begin and run parallel to the main thriller aspect of the story with a side helping of psychiatry - it being Vienna. A page-turner and intriguing but I was uncertain about some of the characters.
(Christine Miller - bwl 65 Summer 2012) |
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