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Any Human Heart Book

Logan Gonzago Mountstuart, writer, was born in 1906, and died of a heart attack on October 5, 1991, aged 85. Any Human Heart is his disjointed autobiography, a massive tome chronicling "my personal rollercoaster"--or rather, "not so much a rollercoaster", but a yo-yo, "a jerking spinning toy in the hands of a maladroit child". From his early childhood in Montevideo, son of an English corned beef executive and his Uraguayan secretary, through his years at a Norfolk public school and Oxford, Mountstuart traces his haphazard development as a writer. Early and easy success is succeeded by a long half-century of mediocrity, disappointments and setbacks, both personal and professional, leading him to multiple failed marriages, internment, alcoholism and abject poverty. Mountstuart's sorry tale is also the story of a British way of life in inexorable decline, as his journey takes in the Bloomsbury set, the General Strike, the Spanish Civil War, 1930s Americans in Paris, wartime espionage, New York avant garde art, even the Baader-Meinhof gang--all with a stellar supporting cast. The most sustained and best moment comes mid-book, as Mountstuart gets caught up in one of Britain's murkier wartime secrets, in the company of the here truly despicable Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Elsewhere author William Boyd occasionally misplaces his tongue too obviously in his cheek--the Wall Street Crash is trailed with truly crashing inelegance--but overall Any Human Heart is a witty, inventive and ultimately moving novel. Boyd succeeds in conjuring not only a compelling 20th century but also, in the hapless Logan Mountstuart, an anti-hero who achieves something approaching passive greatness. --Alan StewartRead More

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  • Amazon

    Every life is both ordinary and extraordinary, but Logan Mountstuart's - lived from the beginning to the end of the twentieth century - contains more than its fair share of both. This book tells the story of a life lived to the full - and a journey deep into a very human heart.

  • Play

    "Any Human Heart" is William's Boyd's classic, bestselling novel - now a major Channel 4 drama. Every life is both ordinary and extraordinary, but Logan Mountstuart's - lived from the beginning to the end of the twentieth century - contains more than its fair share of both. As a writer who finds inspiration with Hemingway in Paris and Virginia Woolf in London, as a spy recruited by Ian Fleming and betrayed in the war and as an art-dealer in '60s New York, Logan mixes with the movers and shakers of his times. But as a son, friend, lover and husband, he makes the same mistakes we all do in our search for happiness. Here, then, is the story of a life lived to the full - and a journey deep into a very human heart. "Any Human Heart" will be enjoyed by readers of Sebastian Faulks, Nick Hornby and Hilary Mantel, as well as lovers of the finest British and historical fiction around the world. It was recently adapted for a major Channel 4 four-part drama series scripted by William Boyd and starring Kim Cattrall, Gillian Anderson, Jim Broadbent and Tom Hollander. "Astonishing, touching, extremely funny. A brilliant evocation of a past era and an immensely readable story".("Sunday Telegraph"). "Superb, wonderful, enjoyable". ("Guardian"). "A terrific journey through the twentieth century. Thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable". (Jeremy Paxman). William Boyd was born in Ghana, where his father was a doctor, and was educated there and in Scotland. His first novel "A Good Man in Africa" won both the Whitbread First Novel and Somerset Maugham Prizes, and his subsequent novels have gone onto win many awards. His books include: "On the Yankee Station and Other Stories", "An Ice-Cream War", "Stars and Bars", "School Ties", "The New Confessions", "Brazzaville Beach", "The Blue Afternoon", "The Destiny of Natalie 'X' and Other Stories", "Armadillo", "Nat Tate: An American Artist 1928-1960", "Any Human Heart", "Restless", "The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth", "Ordinary Thunderstorms", "Fascination", "Bamboo" and "Waiting for Sunrise". He divides his time between London and south-west France.

  • BookDepository

    Any Human Heart : Paperback : Penguin Books Ltd : 9780141044170 : 0141044179 : 12 Nov 2009 : Every life is both ordinary and extraordinary, but Logan Mountstuart's - lived from the beginning to the end of the twentieth century - contains more than its fair share of both. As a writer who finds inspiration with Hemingway in Paris and Virginia Woolf in London, as a spy recruited by Ian Fleming and betrayed in the war.

  • 0141044179
  • 9780141044170
  • William Boyd
  • 26 October 2009
  • Penguin
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 512
  • Re-issue
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