In the 19th century, Cashel Greville grows up in Ireland under the care of his aunt, who is governess to Sir Guy Stillwell’s family. But it’s clear to the reader, if not to Cashel, that all is not what it seems. Sure enough Cashel’s aunt moves them to Oxford, where they take up residence with Sir Guy under the name of Ross, and Cashel’s aunt Elspeth gives birth to twins, Hogan and Buckley. It is not until Cashel is 15 that Elspeth reveals she is his mother and Sir Guy his father.
Outraged, Cashel runs away from home and joins the army as a drummer boy. If you think I’m giving too much away, this all happens within the first 50 pages of this 450-page book, in which Cashel is on the field at Waterloo, hangs out with the Shelleys and Lord Byron, writes a best-selling novel but is cheated by his publisher and ends up in the Marshalsea, attempts to form a commune in Massachusetts, and so on. Oh yes, he also meets the love of his life in Ravenna, Italy, but she is married to a rich old man.
Cashel’s eventful and perhaps not altogether believable life (he claims to have discovered the source of the Nile before Speke and to have thwarted an antiquities smuggling scheme with the help of Sir Richard Burton) is supposedly documented by an autobiography and other papers that came into Boyd’s possession. With this claim, Boyd begins another of his “whole life” novels, maybe the most picaresque and least believable.
I usually like Boyd’s novels—in fact, some of them I have loved—but I had trouble connecting with this one. I’m not sure why, especially since it received uniformly positive reviews. It is fast moving despite its length. Maybe too fast. I didn’t feel like I got to know Cashel or really any of the characters. All of the women are ciphers, even Cashels’ great love. Boyd spends more pages on a sexual encounter with her than on Cashel’s marriage and its subsequent breakup.
Given Boyd’s plans for the adventures in this novel, maybe he needed to make it a lot longer.
What? Me Read? 
Sorry you didn’t connect with this one. I loved it, although I haven’t read anything else by William Boyd so have nothing to compare it with.
Try Any Human Heart. It’s the same type of “whole life” book, but I got more involved with it.
I’ve been rather disappointed in his last couple of books so I decided to hold off on this one and see how the reviews went. I still haven’t decided whether I’ll read it or not.
Yeah, I agree. But everyone was raving about this one.
I love William Boyd’s books in general. But, you are right, there are some where you don’t really connect, or get hooked on the story. It was some time since I read him, so might try one of his books again.
I remember liking some of his earlier books very much, like The Blue Afternoon and Armadillo, and then I lost track of him until just the last ten or fifteen years, so I’ve missed a bunch.
I have read Restless, Waiting for Sunrise, Ordinary Thunderstorms, Brazzaville Beach, and An Ice-Cream War. There was one I did not like so much (but can’t remember which), but the rest of them were good. Although the quality is from time to time rather uneven.
I haven’t read any of those.
Is he meant to be like Flashman? I haven’t read any Boyd but am curious; I suspect this is not the one to start with. I’m guessing Sir Guy’s wife didn’t like having a governess who was carrying on with her husband!
I don’t think so. Boyd likes to write “whole life” books, at least the last half dozen or so, where a person’s entire life is also involved in the major events of the time. I think more like Forrest Gump. Flashman is too much of a villain.
I saw that Boyd was shortlisted for the Walter Scott prize,, but often my opinion differs a lot from the judges on literary prize panels!
Thanks for sharing your review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge!
Certainly a lot of people liked this one better than I did, but I think he’s written better books.