William Boyd Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Interview

Sara Nelson talks with William Boyd about Sweet Caress, why he enjoys writing "full-life novels", and how he considers this book to be the third panel of a tryptich: New Confessions, Any Human Heart and Sweet Caress

One of the reasons I knew that my best friend Jessie was going to be my best friend, and that Sam was going to be my husband was because early on in both relationships, we shared a secret: we were both crazy about the British author William Boyd.  Specifically, in the case of Sam, we bonded over Boyd's 2001 novel, Any Human Heart, the story of the 20th century through the eyes of an ordinary British man living  through it. 

So when Sweet Caress landed on my desk, and its editor told me that Boyd's latest novel was in "Any Human Heart" territory, I was especially motivated to read it. Like Any Human Heart – and like another of Boyd's great novels, The New Confessions – it is the story of a time and many places, as experienced by a specific character, in this case a female photographer named Amory Clay.  Born in the first decade of the 20th century, Amory – whose father named her that because he'd really wanted a son -- grows up to be independent-minded and ambitious. She travels the world – from 1930s Germany to New York to the battlefields of WWII and ultimately Viet Nam – living her life, telling stories through her photos. An added element to this otherwise...