Wandering through Africa wasn’t that much different, in a sense, from wandering through London, or Paris, or Boston. You thought the road ahead was obvious and well marked but more often than not the destination you had so clearly in mind would never be reached. Never. Things got in the way. There were diversions, problems, changes of mind, changes of heart…
Cashel Greville Ross, the hero of William Boyd’s new novel The Romantic, is a man who does plenty of wandering and whose path through life changes direction many times. Born in Ireland in 1799, he lives through some of the major events of the 19th century and becomes a soldier, a writer, a farmer and an explorer – though not all at the same time. He is present on the battlefield of Waterloo, befriends Byron and Shelley in Pisa and travels through Africa in search of the source of the Nile.
Cashel is not a real person, of course, although Boyd does his best to convince us that he is. The book is presented as a biography, complete with footnotes, pieced together from a bundle of letters, notes, maps and photographs which apparently fell into Boyd’s hands several years ago. It’s not a new idea, but it’s very cleverly done here and I can almost guarantee that you’ll be googling things to see if they’re true, even while knowing that they can’t possibly be!
The Romantic is a long novel, but I read most of it in one weekend because it was so gripping I couldn’t bear to put it down. Although the story never becomes bogged down with historical or geographical detail, it’s still completely immersive and I loved every minute I spent in Cashel’s world. His life story unfolds in a series of distinct episodes and I found each one equally compelling: his childhood in County Cork and the uncovering of family secrets; a journey across Italy in order to write a book about his travels; a moral dilemma faced in a Sri Lankan village while fighting with the Indian Army…these are just a few of Cashel’s adventures and there are many more which I’ll leave you to discover for yourself.
Cashel himself is a likeable character, but also a flawed one. As the title suggests, he’s hopelessly romantic; as a young man, his own proud and impulsive nature ruins his chance of happiness with the woman he loves and this sets the tone for the rest of the novel and the rest of his life, as he continually moves from country to country, continent to continent, unable to put this missed opportunity behind him and settle down. His naivety makes him vulnerable and he is repeatedly taken advantage of, suffering a series of injustices and at one point ending up in the Marshalsea Prison for debt, but he never seems to learn from his mistakes, falling into the same traps over and over again. It’s frustrating, but it’s also what kept me turning the pages, desperate to see how Cashel would get out of the latest predicament he had found himself in!
This is one of my books of the year without a doubt and I’m sorry that I’ve never read any William Boyd before.
Thanks to Viking for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.
This is book 53 read for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2022.
She Reads Novels 
Helen, I can’t wait to read this one! Can I suggest you consider Any Human Heart which is in the same vein with a character living through the twentieth century. Boyd is a master at these types of novels, it seems!
I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did, Sandra. I definitely want to try Any Human Heart – that’s a book I’ve been aware of for years without ever thinking that I might like it. Obviously I was wrong!
I’ve not read all of Boyd’s work by any means and there are certainly some of his which don’t appeal to me. Hope AHH lives up to expectations if you try it.
Like Sandra, I don’t need any convincing to read another William Boyd, and this one sounds a real winner.
I’ve just ordered it from the library. The county service has bought A LOT of copies, and they haven’t arrived yet.
I hope you don’t have to wait too long for it. It’s a great book and I can’t believe I never thought William Boyd would be my sort of author!
I’m quite surprised that you haven’t read anything of his already. You’re so very widely read.
I used to love William Boyd but found his more recent fiction disappointing, ,abbé this one marks a return to the style I loved.
I’m hoping so too. I collected it from the library yesterday.
Though I’m going through a novella/novelette phase at the moment I hope, when I get back to reading chunksters, that something like this – or even this! – finds its way into my hands, especially as you sell it so well!
This is quite a long book, but I found it so compelling it was a surprisingly quick read. I have some shorter books lined up for Novellas in November next month!
I haven’t read any Boyd but this sounds fantastic, thanks!
Yes, it is! I can’t believe I had never read any of his books before, but at least I chose a good one to begin with.
When I read his Sweet Caress, I was absolutely convinced that he was writing biographical fiction about a real photographer. I generally like his work, although sometimes find him disappointing.
I still need to read Sweet Caress for the Walter Scott Prize project. It hadn’t sounded very appealing to me before, but I’ll look forward to reading it now.
I thought it was good.
Sounds excellent! I’ve loved a lot of Boyd, and not loved a lot too! He’s been a bit off form in his recent books so it’s good to hear that this one hit the mark for you. I had been debating whether to read it given recent disappointments, but it sounds as if I’ll have to… 😀
Yes, I had seen mixed reviews of some of his other recent books which had put me off reading them, but I’m glad I gave this one a try.
I never thought he was my kind of author but it sounds fascinating. And I have a weakness for hot air balloons!
I never thought I would like him either, but have been proved wrong! There is a hot air balloon in the story, but you have to wait until near the end for it to make its appearance.
Boyd can really be great. However, sometimes he misses the mark. Doesn’t sound like that happened with this one.
I’m glad I picked a good one to start with! I’m looking forward to reading more of his books.
You probably have more than enough recommendations now but I really enjoyed Love Is Blind (a recent novel I might add) and The Blue Afternoon, a love story and my favourite Boyd novel.
Thanks for those recommendations. I obviously have a lot of catching up to do! The Blue Afternoon does sound great.
This really does sound fascinating!! And my library is in the process of acquiring it so I have put a request in! Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Thanks for sharing your review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
I’m glad your library is acquiring it. I hope you enjoy it – it’s such a great book!