The romantic : the real life of Cashel Greville Ross : a novel / William Boyd.

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0241542022

Hardback The romantic : the real life of Cashel Greville Ross : a novel / William Boyd.

Author: Boyd, William, 1952-

Publication year: 2022

Language: English

Media class: Hardback

Classification: FICTION

Category: Fiction

Resource type: Physical

ISBN: 9780241542026 (hbk.) :

Extent: x, 450 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm (hbk)

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Description:

Set in the 19th century, this novel follows the roller-coaster fortunes of a man as he tries to negotiate the random stages, adventures and vicissitudes of his life. He is variously a soldier, a lover, a husband, a father, a friend of famous poets, a writer, a bankrupt, a jailbird, a farmer, an African explorer - and many other manifestations - before, finally, he becomes a minor diplomat, a consul based in Trieste (then in Austria-Hungary) where he thinks he will see out the end of his days in well-deserved tranquillity. This will not come to pass.

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Reviews

Another Boyd disappointment after the disappointing last novel, Trio. For me, these latest two novels are not a patch on some of his earlier books. At least Trio had some humour, unlike The Romantic. There is no shortage of incident in the book as it sweeps through the 19th century: Waterloo, the Third Kandy War, Byron and Shelly, lager brewing in America, debtor's prison, the search for the source of the Nile, smuggling antiquities, and more. The hero certainly lived an interesting life! But, despite this, the book lacks tension and drama, and I found myself not greatly caring about what happened to him and whether he would find his true love.

30/05/23

robrue