William Boyd Libri

È l'estate del 1976, un'interminabile calda estate inglese. Ruth Gilmartin è giunta in macchina nel minuscolo villaggio di Middle Ashton dove vive sua madre. Il paese ha l'aspetto di sempre: una Shangri-La all'incontrario nel cuore perduto dell'Inghilterra dove, come per un misterioso sortilegio, tutto sembra diventare a ogni istante più vecchio, ammuffito, decrepito. La grande casa del XVII secolo al centro del villaggio traballa sui suoi legni divorati dai tarli; la chiesa è sempre più buia e umida, soffocata dagli alberi che sprofondano il villaggio in un crepuscolo perenne; la villetta di Sally, la madre di Ruth, è immersa come sempre in un verde selvaggio e incolto. Tutto sarebbe tediosamente uguale alle innumerevoli volte in cui Ruth è accorsa a Middle Ashton col piccolo Jochen al seguito, se sua madre non avesse un comportamento a dir poco bizzarro. È comparsa sulla soglia della casa seduta su una sedia a rotelle, con le braccia allargate come per accogliere in grembo figlia e nipote. Una volta in casa poi, è balzata giù dalla sedia, si è chinata per dare un bacio a Jochen e ha raggiunto la finestra schermandosi gli occhi per sbirciare fuori, verso il bosco di querce, faggi e noci. Ruth ha avuto la netta sensazione che stesse accadendo qualcosa di strano. Una sensazione che è diventata angosciosa certezza quando Sally ha afferrato un raccoglitore di cuoio e le ha detto porgendoglielo: "Vorrei che lo leggessi". Sul contenitore c'era scritto: "Storia di Eva Delektorskaja".

A collection of twenty-four tales told in bold, distinct voices from Brazil to Africa and from Nice to Hollywood.

Any Human Heart is a classic, bestselling novel by William Boyd, now adapted into a major Channel 4 drama. The story follows Logan Mountstuart, whose life spans the twentieth century, reflecting both the ordinary and extraordinary. As a writer inspired by Hemingway and Woolf, a spy recruited by Ian Fleming, and an art dealer in '60s New York, Logan interacts with the influential figures of his time. Yet, like many, he grapples with personal relationships, making familiar mistakes in his pursuit of happiness. This narrative offers a profound exploration of a life fully lived and the complexities of the human heart. Readers who appreciate the works of Sebastian Faulks, Nick Hornby, and Hilary Mantel will find much to enjoy, as will fans of British and historical fiction. The recent four-part Channel 4 adaptation, scripted by Boyd and featuring stars like Kim Cattrall and Gillian Anderson, brings this story to a new audience. Critics have praised the novel for its astonishing and humorous storytelling, capturing the essence of a past era. Boyd, born in Ghana and educated in Scotland, has received numerous awards for his novels, including A Good Man in Africa. He currently splits his time between London and south-west France.

Adam Kindred is in London for a job interview and looking at a bright future. Then he has a chance meeting in a restaurant that results in a series of actions that cost him his family, his money, his very identity. Utterly alone, Adam joins London's underground society of dispossessed and tries to figure out what happened to his life.

Los Angeles 1936. Kay Fischer, a young, ambitious architect, is shadowed by Salvador Carriscant, an enigmatic stranger claiming to be her father. Within weeks of their first meeting, Kay will join him for an extraordinary journey into the old man's past, initially in search of a murderer, but finally in celebration of a glorious, undying love.

An autobiography of John James Todd, a Scotsman born in 1899 and one of the great self-appointed (and failed) geniuses of the twentieth century.

Duncan Thaw, the narrator, has to cope with a loveless family and the drudgery of growing to maturity in Glasgow. Elsewhere the author moves Thaw into fantasy when he sends him to Unthank, a city he is condemned to after his death. From the author of "Something Leather".

Born in 1799, Cashel Greville Ross experiences myriad lives- joyous and devastating, years of luck and unexpected loss. Moving from County Cork to London, from Waterloo to Zanzibar, Cashel seeks his fortune across continents in war and in peace. He faces a terrible moral choice in a village in Sri Lanka as part of the East Indian Army. He enters the world of the Romantic Poets in Pisa. In Ravenna he meets a woman who will live in his heart for the rest of his days. As he travels the world as a soldier, a farmer, a felon, a writer, a father, a lover, he experiences all the vicissitudes of life and, through the accelerating turbulence of the nineteenth century, he discovers who he truly is. This is the romance of life itself, and the beating heart of The Romantic.

The infamous literary prank that fooled a legion of art critics in the 1990s

Amory's first memory is of her father doing a handstand. She has memories of him returning on leave during the First World War. But his absences, both actual and emotional, are what she chiefly remembers. It is her photographer uncle Greville who supplies the emotional bond she needs, and, when he gives her a camera and some rudimentary lessons in photography, unleashes a passion that will irrevocably shape her future. A spell at boarding school ends abruptly and Amory begins an apprenticeship with Greville in London, living in his flat in Kensington, earning two pounds a week photographing socialites for fashionable magazines. But Amory is hungry for more and her search for life, love and artistic expression will take her to the demi monde of Berlin of the late 1920s, to New York of the 1930s, to the Blackshirt riots in London and to France in the Second World War where she becomes one of the first women war photographers. Her desire for experience will lead Amory to further wars, to lovers, husbands and children as she continues to pursue her dreams and battle her demons. In this enthralling story of a life fully lived, William Boyd has created a sweeping panorama of some of the most defining moments of modern history, told through the camera lens of one unforgettable woman, Amory Clay.