The Romantic
Published on 6. April 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
480 pages
978-0-241-99407-8 (ISBN)
Description
Soldier. Farmer. Felon. Writer. Father. Lover.
One man, many lives.
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.
From one of Britain's best-loved and bestselling writers comes an intimate yet panoramic novel set across the nineteenth century.
'Picaresque, big-hearted and moving, this is Boyd at the top of his game' Guardian
'There are few reading pleasures as great as giving in to a William Boyd novel' Sunday Times
'One of our best contemporary storytellers' Spectator
'Simply the best realistic storyteller of his generation' Sebastian Faulks
One man, many lives.
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.
From one of Britain's best-loved and bestselling writers comes an intimate yet panoramic novel set across the nineteenth century.
'Picaresque, big-hearted and moving, this is Boyd at the top of his game' Guardian
'There are few reading pleasures as great as giving in to a William Boyd novel' Sunday Times
'One of our best contemporary storytellers' Spectator
'Simply the best realistic storyteller of his generation' Sebastian Faulks
Reviews / Votes
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 -- Sathnam Sanghera * 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 -- Allan Massie * 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 -- Antonia Fraser * 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 -- Peter Brookes * 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 *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 36 mm
Weight
338 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-241-99407-8 (9780241994078)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
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. Any Human Heart was longlisted for the Booker Prize and adapted into a TV series with Channel 4. In 2005, Boyd was awarded the CBE. He is married and divides his time between London and south-west France.