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 ) |
