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  • Published: 15 June 2017
  • ISBN: 9780241981450
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 512
  • RRP: $22.99

Any Human Heart

A BBC Two Between the Covers pick




The classic novel spanning every decade of the 20th century, available as a Penguin Essential for the first time

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.

  • Published: 15 June 2017
  • ISBN: 9780241981450
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 512
  • RRP: $22.99

About the author

William Boyd

William Boyd is the author of one work of non-fiction, three collections of short stories and thirteen novels, including the bestselling historical spy thriller Restless – winner of the Costa Novel of the Year – and Any Human Heart, in which the character of Ian Fleming features. Among his other awards are the Whitbread First Novel Prize, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Prix Jean Monnet. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2005, he was awarded the CBE.

Born in Ghana in 1952, William Boyd spent much of his early life in West Africa. He now divides his time between the south-west of France and Chelsea, where he lives a stone’s throw from James Bond’s London address.

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Praise for Any Human Heart

A terrific journey through the twentieth century. Thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable

Jeremy Paxman

Wise, profound and moving. Only the very best novels make you look at your own life and imagine your own future with fresh eyes

William Sutcliffe, Independent on Sunday

Superb, wonderful, enjoyable

Guardian

This fabulous book all about life... is the journey of anyone with a heart... I think of Any Human Heart often - the sign of a truly great book

Fi Glover, Spectator

Sheer, truly brilliant storytelling. He has probably written more classic books than any of his contemporaries

Daily Telegraph

Astonishing, touching, extremely funny. A brilliant evocation of a past era and an immensely readable story

Sunday Telegraph

Astounding. One of Boyd's greatest achievements

Mail on Sunday

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