Superstar author William Boyd is back, telling the story of a rich and varied life well lived.

Cashel Ross, an orphan brought up in Cork, navigates his way through the early 19th century touched by major events and significant figures – he survives Waterloo, he travels Europe and socialises with romantic poets, and crosses the Atlantic to become a brewer. Although the life of one man, the history he lives touches on universal truths and deeply held values.

William Boyd is known for novels where he uses a minor character to tell true historical stories and highlight important people from that time. Just like in his previous novels Any Human Heart or Love Is Blind, the story is woven amongst fact, but so seamlessly that you couldn’t tell what was real…and what was not. Meticulous research must have gone into this, and it has completely paid off – we live in Cashel’s world, live and breathe his experiences and feel his joys and pain. Now 70 years old, William Boyd shows no sign of diminishing and this can only be something to be celebrated.

As consistent and hugely enjoyable as ever, Boyd has once more given us a thought-provoking, satisfying slice of the past.

(Review by Cliff)