‘The Romantic’ gives us William Boyd at his very best. This is the story of Cashel Greville Ross. The author’s colourful yet sensitive portrayal of his hero, born on the cusp of the nineteenth century, ensures that we increasingly root for him as he travels across continents, living as an adventurer, a soldier, a farmer, and writer. Sometimes hot-headed and hasty in his decisions, Cashel is, in essence, a delightful man. Recognising that ‘…the flaw in his nature, he was coming to realize [was that] he was too decent a man; always trying to please, to be liked’, he vows to become more ‘self-serving’. Thankfully, whilst Cashel grows older and wiser, decency proves difficult to throw off.
The narrative pays homage to the style of the Victorian novel without ever becoming a mere pastiche. Boyd’s choice of language and sentence structure reminds us that we are reading of a different age and, as Cashel experiences the vast changes afoot - not least the speed of travel, new philosophies, unexplored countries - we live through them vividly with him.
A wonderfully wide-ranging novel spanning continents, decades and cultures and populated by a large cast of memorable characters, ‘The Romantic’ pays tribute to the strength of the human spirit and the warmth of the human heart.
My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin General UK – Viking for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

Cashel Greville Ross is the figure at the centre of this very fine novel, a man whose life takes in the battle of Waterloo, larking around with Byron and Shelley, imprisonment, exploring Africa and so much more besides. Its a rich life, full of incident, picaresque, witty, dramatic, with a hero so finely drawn he leaps off the page. Then, you wouldn't expect anything less than that from the master storyteller of William Boyd. Highly recommended.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.

Great story, Cashel who changes his name when circumstances demand it starts his story in Cork as the orphan looked after by his aunt. But things are not as they appear and when Cashel finds out he leaves home to promptly end up at the battle of Waterloo! His life is one of adventure and simply saying yes to a myriad of different suggestions he finds himself in the company of Byron and Shelley, setting up a farm in the new continent of America, searching for the source of the Nile……. The nineteen century was exciting and Cashel was everywhere. Beautifully written by this great author I loved this tale of a life lived.

The Romantic by William Boyd
William Boyd is excellent at writing seemingly biographical novels which convey the life of a person who meets various famous people during the course of his/her exciting life. The story begins in December 1799 as Cashel Greville Ross is born. He spends his early life with his aunt who is a governess in Ireland. He spends his childhood playing with the girls of the family but then he and his aunt travel to England.
He ends up fighting at the Battle of Waterloo, travelling in Europe and then travels to America. His life takes many different turns and we are keen to find out what different turns his life will take. The author involves us in Cashel’s life and we are keen to find out where his next adventure will take him. He conveys the history of the period extremely well and although I did not like this book as much as Any Human Heart and Sweet Caress it is definitely worth reading.

I would like to thank the author, the publishers and Net Galley for a copy in return for an honest review.

William Boyd is a consummate writer who has an amazing ability to create the most wonderful characters.. The life of Cashel is told with humour, love and intelligence. Covering several countries and many years it weaves a story that was a delight to read. A wonderful book

One of the characters in the book says 'What a life' and this is exactly my response.

The book is fascinating on many levels: the range of experiences that Cashel had and the many countries that he lived in; the twists and turns of his life in which sometimes he decided on next steps and sometimes fate intervened to push him in a particular direction; the technological changes that he saw in his long life in transport, communication, etc.

I liked the device of moving the narrative forward a few years, then going back to fill in the gaps - this is where Cashel is now, and this is how he got here.

There's love, danger, people you can trust and others whom you cannot., all aspects of a rich and varied life. This is extraordinary storytelling, as I knew it would be from this exceptional author!

The life of Cashel Greville Ross is never dull. Introduced to Cashel as an orphaned young boy in Ireland, the reader follows him as he lurches from one adventure to another, never staying in one place for long. Cashel is an ambitious yet flawed character who is at heart a romantic, and isn’t afraid of a challenge; even if it means assimilating to different environments and even changing his identity in the process. Featuring romance, calamity, and real historical figures and events, this globe-trotting epic will certainly entertain readers.

I was unable to read this book as I couldn't manage to enlarge the font on my mobile.

What a pity!!!

Good luck with the book.

The Romantic is a thought- provoking highly enjoyable novel which I did not want to end. Set during the first two thirds of the 19thC this story reveals a fictitious life lived adventurously. I would just about place it within the picaresque tradition although Cashel, the hero, matures as he experiences life’s surprises and twists and turns and tries to control what he recognises as an impulsive nature. Without it he would never have had such experiences or such a life journey. The book’s pages and Cashel’s amazing biography ( interspersed in Walter Scott tradition with invented source materials including delightful sketch maps) take us from Ireland to Oxford, Italy , New England, Soho, and to Africa. There is a constant sense of quest and endless jeopardy. Boyd cleverly introduces Byron, Shelley and later Livingstone into this novel. It contains the atmosphere of Victorian exploration and adventure and indeed survival. It’s pages also contain an enduring love in the manner of GabrieL Marquez’s Love in the Time of Solitude, a love that never dies ‘ Now he thought about it, that was a fair definition of love- to care more about the person you loved than you did about yourself’. True love never fades.

This is a wonderful, rich, characterful novel filled with humour and adventures and philosophical musings. I loved the literary references including Turgenev all seamlessly integrated into the narrative. The book has terrific pace and it is at times delightfully playful. Who could not love the imperfect hero, Cashel, his impulsive nature , his moral compass, his extraordinary life and complex individuality. It is a novel that not only speaks of what it is to be human but of life with its joys and mistakes. It is a satisfying and wise read. And it is a stunner. Excellent novel.

I absolutely loved this book. It follows the very interesting and eventful life of Cashel Greville Ross. A boy born of an affair between a governess and a Lord from Ireland. Brought up in Cork then moved to Oxford as a boy where his twin brothers were born. After discovering who his father is he runs away at 14 a joins the Army where he is decorated as a hero in the battle of Waterloo. His life then takes him around the world where he meets the love of his life. She is already married so he leaves but never forgets her. He is a true romantic with an adventurers soul.

This is just what William Boyd excels in - a semi-picaresque novel which sets a man against a historic backdrop.

In this case Cashel Greville Ross moves from his early childhood in Ireland, to England, to fight and be wounded in the battle of Waterloo, Europe where he meets Shelley and Byron, the USA as a farming settler, Africa and back to the UK and Europe. Set out as a list like this it sounds unbelievable, literally incredible, but Boyd succeeds in making this series of extraordinary adventures entirely believable whilst also carrying along a plot, giving the history and spirit of the time and giving the reader a portrait of an engaging and entirely sympathetic man.

It is also a tale of kindness, hidden love, some betrayal but above all human connection. I would very much recommend this book. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a review copy.

William Boyd is a master at writing history through the fictional life story of an individual. He gets the balance perfectly between the personal and the historical elements of the story, which feed off each other to create a compelling literary landscape.

In The Romantic the central character is a real person about whom so little is known that fiction is the only way to bring his story to life. It becomes the life he might have led - and what a life it is.

Cashel’s place in the world is something of a mystery to him from the start. Life happens to him in his early years and this in many ways sets the pattern for the novel. He is essentially a man without a home. Yet he is very much the romantic hero in the Romantic age. So much of his life is driven by a spirit of adventure and so many of his actions driven by influential women. He is a writer and an explorer; a lover and a soldier.

Readers who love a journey will adore The Romantic. From its beginnings in Ireland, the book charts a course through Europe, Asia, America and Africa. It is something of a boys’ own story - and also the journey of the nineteenth century.

The story is punctuated by a litany of exotic place names: Ooty, Kandy, Ceylon, Pisa, Ravenna, Arles, Zanzibar, Kazeh, Trieste, Rhodes, Venice. It is populated by famous historical figures: Byron, the Shelleys, Burton and Speke. There are nods to Dr Livingstone and James Joyce. There are a fair number of crooks and charlatans too. The nineteenth century is presented as an age rich with opportunity and full of potential pitfalls. It requires a true Romantic to navigate it.

From Waterloo to the source of the Nile to the American Civil War, key events of the nineteenth century are the backdrop to the novel. The novel touches on some historical controversies, such as the sudden death of John Speke amidst disputes over the Nile expeditions.

Yet events do not entirely take place abroad. Descriptions of early nineteenth century Oxford perfectly evoke the period. Familiar street names and parts of the city establish precise locations as Boyd superimposes nineteenth century Oxford on the city we know. Descriptions of London are also familiar, locations occasionally recalling Dickens’ London, such as the Marshalsea prison, where Cashel is obliged to reside for a while.

In the end, when Cashel sits to write his autobiography, he finds that remembering is an act of the imagination rather than of faithful recall. Fact and fiction become merged for Cashel, echoing Boyd’s construction of his novel.

William Boyd suffers because he wrote one of the greatest books of our time in Any Human Heart. Readers are inclined to compare all his novels to his masterpiece. The Romantic may not be as complete an achievement as Any Human Heart, but it is a more thrilling story.

The life of Cashel Greville Ross encompasses taking part in the battle of Waterloo, hanging out with Shelley and Byron in Italy, prison in London, running a brewery in New England, exploring Africa and being a consul in Trieste. His life begins in 1799 and stretches to the advent of the modern age in the late Nineteenth century.
Boyd is brilliant at evoking historical settings and this picaresque novel is similar to some of his other books in some ways such as the main character’s romantic entanglements and European settings.
You constantly want to see how Cashel will manage to get himself out of various scrapes and I kept willing him on. He’s a likeable, decent and well-meaning character who helps others, with as the title suggests a strong romantic side. I was rooting for him all the way hoping his life would turn out well.
It’s a great achievement by Boyd to produce this book and it’s thoroughly enjoyable with flashes of humour, warmth and fascinating insights into some interesting real- life characters like Byron and Richard Burton from the Nineteenth century.
Thanks to the publisher Penguin Random House and Netgalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This is not my usual type of read, but the premise really intrigued me. I cannot wait to see where this nickel takes me,. As someone who wants to see and do as much as humanly possible this seemed so interesting. Full review to follow both here and on the blog. Love the romantic aspect as well.

Soldier. Farmer. Felon. Writer. Father. Lover.
One man, many lives.

Born in 1799, Cashel Greville Ross experiences myriad lives: joyous and devastating, years of luck and unexpected loss. Moving from County Cork to London, from Waterloo to Zanzibar, Cashel seeks his fortune across continents in war and in peace. He faces a terrible moral choice in a village in Sri Lanka as part of the East Indian Army. He enters the world of the Romantic Poets in Pisa. In Ravenna he meets a woman who will live in his heart for the rest of his days. As he travels the world as a soldier, a farmer, a felon, a writer, a father, a lover, he experiences all the vicissitudes of life and, through the accelerating turbulence of the nineteenth century, he discovers who he truly is. This is the romance of life itself, and the beating heart of The Romantic.