The 19th century digested and served up on a platter for all types of readers. If names like Livingston, Dickens, Byron, Shelley, and many others ring a bell, they all parade through its pages because the protagonist, Cashel Greville Ross, is involved in all the major messes of the century, starting with the Battle of Waterloo. And how that condemned fellow moves around: from an estate in Ireland to Oxford, Venice, Pisa, Ravenna, Boston, India, Zanzibar, Victoria Falls, London, Trieste, and a my...

"I mean, we have to accept the lives we’ve lived. Not imagine lives we might have lived." This isn't the first time William Boyd has written a 'cradle-to-grave' novel. *Any Human Heart* was a rollicking tale of a fictional man of letters named Logan Mountstuart, which took in many of the important events of the 20th century. *The Romantic* examines the fortunes of a very different kind of character, an adventurer by the name of Cashel Greville Ross.Ross is initially raised in Ireland by an au...

I was a little disappointed in William Boyd's *The Romantic*. The preface describes it as a novel based on the true story of Cashel Greville Ross, a late eighteenth/early nineteenth-century adventurer. He certainly lived an interesting life, traveling the world, getting into scrapes, and climbing the ladder of success only to fall back down a few rungs. My main issue is the writing's lack of depth. Given that this is a fictionalized account, the author had plenty of room to show more emotion. I...

R(possibly)TC I'm marking this as 'possibly read' because I'm honestly not sure if I finished it. I *think* I did, but the last third of William Boyd's *The Romantic* just sort of... faded from my mind. Which, sadly, is a pretty accurate summary of the book itself. Look, Boyd can write. No one is going to deny that the man has talent with prose. But *The Romantic*? It's like he set out to write the most deliberately, aggressively *boring* historical fiction possible. Our protagonist, Cashel Ro...

Pure, quintessential Romanticism in its finest form:“Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!Bird thou never wert,That from Heaven, or near it,Pourest thy full heartIn profuse strains of unpremeditated art.”Percy Bysshe Shelley – To a SkylarkPlot-wise, *The Romantic* is cleverly stylized as a Victorian novel, but written with a modern, explicit approach.The novel’s hero spends his early childhood in Ireland, his birth shrouded in mystery… Now he's in England, attending school… He runs away from home… He bec...

William Boyd at his absolute finest, returning to the sweeping biographical fiction he's mastered in the past. "The Romantic" follows Cashel's life across eighty years in the 19th Century, a tale expertly weaving together real and imagined drama. A must-read for fans of historical fiction and William Boyd's previous works.

The fictional biography is my favorite genre. I suppose that's why I somewhat surprisingly enjoyed reading Daniel Defoe. And it's good to see the genre is now getting some popular traction; *The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo* is a whole life novel. But the first modern example I read was William Boyd's *Any Human Heart*, a book which must be in my lifetime top ten. If I hadn't been so excited about Boyd writing another, set this time in the 19th century, I wouldn't be so disappointed now. This ...

As a longtime fan of William Boyd's novels, I'm happy to say that *The Romantic* didn't disappoint. It's a fictional autobiography centered around the very likeable Cashew Greville Ross and how his life intersects with historical events of the 19th century. The writing is excellent, the story is wonderful, and the characters are interesting throughout. If you're looking for engaging historical fiction, definitely pick this one up. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance reader...

Well, this is more like the William Boyd I know and love! I've been a bit disappointed with some of his recent work, but "The Romantic" takes me right back to that wonderful saga style he's so brilliant at. In "The Romantic," we follow the life of Cashel Greville Ross who, you could easily believe, was a real person, such is Boyd's masterful storytelling. Ross's life starts rather unremarkably, but he makes the most of every opportunity that comes his way. Although, I can't help feeling that thi...

Cashel Greville Ross was born somewhere in Scotland on December 14th, 1799, the same day George Washington died. He was soon moved to County Cork, Ireland, and later learned of a tragedy that befell his parents. The story – a fictional autobiography – picks up his life from this point and follows it all the way through. And what a life it is! If I felt like I’d walked this path with William Boyd before, it’s because I have: *Any Human Heart* and *The New Confessions* both followed a man's life t...