Any Human Heart

I have been watching the TV production of William’s Boyd’s Any Human Heart on Blu-ray.  For me, it is one of those things that is so well done that it hurts.  Not only is it taken from one of William’s Boyd’s best novels, but the acting (from an absurdly good cast) and the production are superb.  It is quite long – 6 hours or so – and I have been trying to take it slowly.  It is too rich and poignant to rush.

The main plot anchor is the love of the protagonist Logan Mountstuart for his second wife Freya.  She and their child are killed in London during the Second World War by a V2 whilst Logan, captured whilst serving as a British Intelligence officer, languishes in a Swiss jail.

Three Great Novelists – None of them Dead Yet

I have just finished William Boyd’s Waiting for Sunrise. A really great novel.

England is stupendously lucky in having three male novelists at the peak of the art form: William Boyd, Sebastian Faulks and Ian McEwan.

William Boyd’s first novels – A Good Man in Africa etc – were fun but hardly great art. But with books like Armadillo and Any Human Heart he absolutely moved into the top league.