Any Human Heart: A BBC Two Between the Covers pick - Softcover

Boyd, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141044179 ISBN 13: 9780141044170

Publisher: Penguin, 2009

Synopsis

Any Human Heart is William's Boyd's classic, bestselling novel

Every life is both ordinary and extraordinary, but Logan Mountstuart's - lived from the beginning to the end of the twentieth century - contains more than its fair share of both. As a writer who finds inspiration with Hemingway in Paris and Virginia Woolf in London, as a spy recruited by Ian Fleming and betrayed in the war and as an art-dealer in '60s New York, Logan mixes with the movers and shakers of his times. But as a son, friend, lover and husband, he makes the same mistakes we all do in our search for happiness. Here, then, is the story of a life lived to the full - and a journey deep into a very human heart.

Any Human Heart will be enjoyed by readers of Sebastian Faulks, Nick Hornby and Hilary Mantel, as well as lovers of the finest British and historical fiction around the world.

'Astonishing, touching, extremely funny. A brilliant evocation of a past era and an immensely readable story' Sunday Telegraph

'Superb, wonderful, enjoyable' Guardian

'A terrific journey through the twentieth century. Thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable' Jeremy Paxman

About this title

Review:

Logan Gonzago Mountstuart, writer, was born in 1906, and died of a heart attack on October 5, 1991, aged 85. Any Human Heart is his disjointed autobiography, a massive tome chronicling "my personal rollercoaster"--or rather, "not so much a rollercoaster", but a yo-yo, "a jerking spinning toy in the hands of a maladroit child". From his early childhood in Montevideo, son of an English corned beef executive and his Uraguayan secretary, through his years at a Norfolk public school and Oxford, Mountstuart traces his haphazard development as a writer. Early and easy success is succeeded by a long half-century of mediocrity, disappointments and setbacks, both personal and professional, leading him to multiple failed marriages, internment, alcoholism and abject poverty.

Mountstuart's sorry tale is also the story of a British way of life in inexorable decline, as his journey takes in the Bloomsbury set, the General Strike, the Spanish Civil War, 1930s Americans in Paris, wartime espionage, New York avant garde art, even the Baader-Meinhof gang--all with a stellar supporting cast. The most sustained and best moment comes mid-book, as Mountstuart gets caught up in one of Britain's murkier wartime secrets, in the company of the here truly despicable Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Elsewhere author William Boyd occasionally misplaces his tongue too obviously in his cheek--the Wall Street Crash is trailed with truly crashing inelegance--but overall Any Human Heart is a witty, inventive and ultimately moving novel. Boyd succeeds in conjuring not only a compelling 20th century but also, in the hapless Logan Mountstuart, an anti-hero who achieves something approaching passive greatness. --Alan Stewart

Review:

'A terrific journey through the twentieth century. Thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable' - Jeremy Paxman 'Wise, profound and moving. Only the very best novels make you look at your own life and imagine your own future with fresh eyes' - William Sutcliffe, Independent on Sunday 'Superb, wonderful, enjoyable' Guardian 'Sheer, truly brilliant storytelling. He has probably written more classic books than any of his contemporaries' Daily Telegraph 'Astonishing, touching, extremely funny. A brilliant evocation of a past era and an immensely readable story' Sunday Telegraph 'Astounding. One of Boyd's greatest achievements' Mail on Sunday

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0141044179
• ISBN 13: 9780141044170
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 528