This is as much of a story about the nineteenth century as it is about its hero. Cashel Grenville Ross is born in Ireland in 1799 and believes himself to be an orphan, being brought up by his aunt after the tragic death of his parents. This proves to be a lie, created to conceal the scandal of his birth and he later moves with his family to Oxford. His life decisions take him to the battle of Waterloo and to India, as a soldier. He later does the European “tour”, where he meets Shelley and Byron. He encounters friends, lovers, con artists and other colourful characters on his travels, living variously in France, Italy and America. His life touches several momentous events of the nineteenth century, including the American civil war and the discovery of Lake Victoria and he embarks on numerous careers - writer, farmer, brewer and cultural attaché - during his fulfilled life. This is a highly accomplished and compelling story which was a joy to read.

With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review it.

The Romantic is a superb life story of the 19th century, following Cashel Ross from his birth in Ireland, to England, Italy (mixing with Byron and Shelley), America, africa… it’s a gripping study of one man through a dramatically changing world, the people he loves and comes across over the decades; and the driving force of romances that went awry

Cashel Greville Ross is raised by his aunt in Ireland after the devastating loss of his parents whilst still an infant. She moves them to England where he continues his education. When he travels to London he joins the army and thereby becomes involved in the battle of Waterloo. His travels take him from India to Europe where he decides to write a travel memoir. This book gives you a glimpse of life in the 19th century with a richness of detail that immerses you into Ross's life.

Could this win my prize for the best novel of 2022?

Cashel Greville Ross was born in Scotland in December 1799. His parents were killed in an accident shortly after his birth and he was sent to live with his aunt in Ireland. Or so he’s led to believe by his aunt, Elspeth Soutar, the governess to Sir Guy and Lady Evangeline Stillwell’s daughters. When Elspeth role as the governess ends as the girls have reached the age where they no longer need private tutoring, Elspeth and Cashel move to Oxford. Shortly thereafter, Elspeth gives birth to twin boys, Hogan and Buckley and their lives are made even more complete when their father, Pelham Ross sporadically manages to visit.

It's several years later that Cashel discovers that Pelham Ross is Sir Guy Stillwell and is not only the father of the twins but his father as well. Cashel is so shocked that he runs away and joins the army, as a drummer. His first encounter with war is at Waterloo. This is where his life will change from being a carefree, young man into someone desperate to find out his identity. Is he just the illegitimate son of Elspeth and Pelham Ross or someone destined to live life to the maxim.

I have been expounding all and sundry with the story of this remarkable man. William Boyd’s writing made me feel as if I was there, following Cashel as he mixed with people like Shelley and Byron, or falling madly in love. It feels like a real biography of a truly remarkable man. It’s one of the cleverest methods of writing I’ve encountered. Thank you, William Boyd. You’ve given me so much to think about journeying through this novel.

Rony

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review.

A precious beautiful interesting literary joy. The details and the characters rollicking through the most important and tragic decades of the ending slowly of colonial rule across the globe. William Boyd the maestro

I'm a diehard William Boyd fan and whatever he writes is always head and shoulders above most contemporary fiction but this novel is not one of his best. The 'cradle to grave' story which has become Boyd's trademark is taken further back in time than the 20th century lives he usually tackles. The life of Cashel Greville' Ross, The Romantic of the title, spans instead most of the 19th century. Boyd is steeped in knowledge of the Romantic poets and his portraits of Byron, Shelley et al into whose circle his Zelig-like protagonist falls are fascinating and funny. During his long life Cashel Ross also becomes and art theft sleuth in Trieste and, hilariously, invents American lager. But it's Boyd's treatment of the romance at the heart of this story that jars. The objects of Cashel's love interest are just that - objectified, and the women in the book are subjected to such an unpleasantly male gaze that the love scenes become, it has to be said, a bit icky. Please, William Boyd, for your next book bring us again one of your brilliant female protagonists (as in Brazzaville Beach or Restless to name but two) instead of this rather old fashioned romance.

What a story and a man. This book is long and complex in scope and ambtion. It's wonderfully written just not the kind of novel that comes as an easy read. It's one you have to concentrate on as there are many, many threads to keep your eye on.

Born in 1799 Cashel Greville Ross experienced many years of luck and loss. Moving around the world as a soldier, felon, writer, father, and lover he experiences all his life before he discovers who he really is.

Wouldn't we all like to discover who we really are? The book blurb drew me into this book. I was certainly not disappointed as it is beautifully written. Such a cleverly written book and intriguing all the way through. I haven't read anything by this author but I will be looking out for his other work. There is an amount of tongue-in-cheek humor too. A great read.

William Boyd has the unfortunate affliction of having written a much loved novel and having his fans want him to write something as great again. And so as Any Human Heart covered a man’s life across the twentieth century, the Romantic does the same for the nineteenth. We accompany the hero Cashel Greville Ross as he grows up in Ireland and Oxford, fights at Waterloo, meets Romantic poets in Europe, journeys to America and spends decades pining for a woman he met in Italy. The novel is structured as a reconstruction of Ross’ own papers - complete with sketch maps and authorial footnotes. There is a great twist in the early part of the novel which I particularly enjoyed.
We follow our hero, anticipating his naivety as he becomes embroiled in yet another money making scheme and willing to overlook the implausibility of a life that crosses across so many key events of the 19th century. The reason I’m giving this four and a half stars not five is because of the undeveloped female characters. Boyd spends paragraphs describing the main female character’s appearance but we learn little of her personality or why he pines for her over fifty years. Throughout the novel it seems no woman is immune to Ross’ charms or unwilling to sleep with him despite this taking place in an era before reliable contraception.
The Romantic was an enjoyable romp and perhaps Boyd can be persuaded to find the diaries of a eighteenth century protagonist, who may have dined with Jane Austen, Marie Antoinette and The Founding Fathers?

The Romantic is yet another tremendous piece of writing from William Boyd. It’s a cracking read for anyone who enjoys an elegant, twisty story. But, more than this, it’s part of the body of work which started with the New Confessions and Any Human Heart (and let’s not forget Nat Tate). The questions at the core of this project are how does one measure/chronicle, do justice to, a life? Must it be the cinecamera approach, catching every moment along the way or, is it better to wait until the end and take stock with the end in hand?

If you’re William Boyd, it would appear the answer is that you’d better try both, even a few times, to see which works better. The trouble is when he is so excellent at both, how will an answer ever be arrived at?

In THE ROMANTIC, Boyd has jumped centuries. The novel starts in 1822 and moves forward to the 19th Century. It’s a choice which immediately changed things up – or it did for this reader anyway. Because I have far less knowledge about this period, I was left waiting for our hero’s life to crash into big historical moments as opposed to trying to guess ahead as I read. Not that this is necessarily better – but it is very different – so you are not rereading Boyd’s own tropes as it were.

Something else that I loved – although it is also terrifying – was having the overview of where our hero made a stupid mistake which then dogged the rest of his life. It happened to Logan Mountstuart and lo, also to Cashel Greville Ross. But I also loved how both men rallied themselves and careened onwards, stumbling into more preposterous danger and madcap antics.

I wept for Logan Mountstuart and all these years later I am still secretly in love with him. I cheered Cashel on with a swollen heart, hoping and praying he’d get a good death – as his Irish family would have wished for.

If you liked ANY HUMAN HEART you will love THE ROMANTIC. If you didn’t like ANY HUMAN HEART what is wrong with you?

With many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read an advance copy of this title.

I love those books with a big sweeping story you can just sink into and lose yourself. The Romantic is certainly one of those. I absolutely adored this story and it goes up there as one of my books of the year.

The fictional biography of Cashel Greville Ross takes us from his beginnings as an orphan living with his aunt in rural Ireland through the many adventures and loves in his life.

A fantastical, fabulous journey that sees Ross present at the battle of Waterloo, befriend Shelley and Byron in Italy, become a farmer in America and an explorer in Africa. Along the way he finds love several times but most significantly with Raphaella who he can never truly forget.

It's a life of highs and lows and great adventure and loss but Cashel always manages to pick himself up and keep going.

The writing is a joy and Boyd has that skill of conjuring the sights and sounds of place and time that effortlessly transports the reader. Though this is quite a lengthy book I just didn’t want it to end.

I have only read one other by Boyd but after this I’ll certainly be seeking more out.

Thanks to Net Galley and Penguin for the chance to read an advance copy

Cashel Greville Ross was born at the very end of the 18th century and he lived for 83 years. He had a full and varied life.
Born in Ireland, he is told he is an orphan, that his parents drowned at sea. He lives with his aunt Elspeth. She lives in the lodge house on the estate of sir Guy and lady Evangeline Stillwell in County Cork. His aunt is governess to the Stillwell's two daughters. Circumstances change when there is no more use of a governess. Cashel and his aunt move to England and there his world is turned upside down.
He eventually finds himself badly wounded at the battle of Waterloo. He explores France and italy. Meets Lord Byron, Percy and Mary Shelley and then meets the love of his life in Ravenna. The beautiful and alluring Raphaela.
He becomes a best selling author. Becomes a farmer and beer brewer in America. Fathers two daughters and then falls in love with Frannie who could be Raphaela's double!
He tries to find the source of the Nile, is appointed consul in Zanzibar! He ends up an old man in Venice with a price on his head! However there are plenty more adventures on the way including a debtor prison!
As usual with this author the story is very well told. Quite a long book at nearly 500 pages. At times very sad but also funny in parts. After a disastrous marriage you desperately want Cashel to find love, peace and contentment with either Raphaela or Franny. Definitely recommended.

This book has to go down as my favourite of the year! This is the first book I have read by this author, but I hope it won't be the last. A very long novel, it took me a week or so to get through but I enjoyed every minute of it. I initially thought I would struggle with the timeline as I don't usually read books that go back as far as the 18th century. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to read and I was happily transported along with Cashel on his many adventures. A magical journey from start to finish.

To begin with I wasn’t sure about this book, but after a few pages, I loved it and couldn’t stop talking about it.
It’s clever and although William Boyd uses words I’ve never read before and I had to use a thesaurus, it’s still easy to read and immensely enjoyable.
Cashel Greville Ross is a man who manages to reinvent himself many times, being a soldier, a writer, a lecturer, a brewer, an adventurer etc, although he still remains the same at his core, a romantic.
I’m giving this book a well deserved 5*

Brilliant!
The Romantic by William Boyd is a classic story told of an adventurous romantic who lives through an almost unbelievable series of events in his life.

It is of course written as it is true, and as the reader you wish/hope that it was.

Brilliant characters, brilliant adventures. A mixture of pleasure and pathos, never quite reaching his paradise.
I loved it, and although it was quite a long book, I didn't want it to end.

Thanks to the author and the publisher for an advanced copy for an honest review.

William Boyd has a strong record of writing lengthy novels featuring the life journey of singular individual. There is Brodie Moncur in ‘Love is Blind,’ Amory Clay in ‘Sweet Caress’ and Logan Mountstuart in ‘Any Human Heart.’ Here we have another unique individual, Cashel Ross.
Boyd tells us in a prologue how he has written a biography of Ross by using as a source a hundred pages of notes, sketches, and other memorabilia that he has found. The reader must decide if Ross did indeed live the life that Boyd has pieced together from these fragments or if Boyd is reprising the approach he used in his alleged biography of the American artist, Nat Tate. The latter turned out to be a complete fiction. But then fiction is, well, fictional.
Whatever the truth, Boyd’s account of Ross’s life goes from him being a drummer boy at the battle of Waterloo, meeting his great love, Raphaella and then journeying round Europe and striking up friendships with Shelley and Byron. He writes a travel guide and a novel, emigrates to America where he farms and marries. He returns to Europe where he is persuaded to become an explorer in Africa, searching for the source of the Nile. Again, he rubs shoulders with historical figures such as Richard Burton. Eventually he takes a job as a consul in Trieste where he becomes involved with illicit trade. Here the novel becomes like a thriller as we wonder how Ross will deal with his latest set of problems.
Ross is a fascinating character, going from one extraordinary situation to another. It’s his own decisions which take him forward. But these are not moral decisions in the sense of choosing between right or wrong. Rather, they are decisions stemming from his own heartfelt instincts. This becomes the underlying theme of this novel – how our own decisions shape the life we lead.
This is a long novel and Boyd keeps the narrative moving forward by not hesitating to leap five or ten years. Occasionally, this gives a disjointed feel and the sense of events being skated over. For example, Ross becomes inadvertently and heavily addicted to opiate painkillers. This could have been a turning point, but Ross decides to kick the habit with as much effort as it takes to quit cigarettes. Really? I had thought that we would see Ross struggling terribly with his addiction but no, it’s just swept aside.
There are shortfalls in depicting characters, particularly with Ignatz, Ross’s companion and fixer. I felt that this important relationship was under-explored and that we needed to know more about why Ignatz sticks with Ross throughout a range of troubles.
Finally, I was unconvinced by Ross’s love for Raphaella. We meet her early on in the 1820s in the heat of their affair but then Ross seems to think of her only occasionally until they meet forty years later. I wondered whether the relationship was insufficiently explored in the text or if Ross has such a busy crowded life that he did in fact think of her only occasionally. In which case, the relationship is quite shallow.
I would have liked to have had more on Ross’s reaction to the century he lives through, a century of as much change as the one which follows it. Yes, there is the occasional mention of new technologies such as the railway or the telegraph. But this would have made for a different type of novel and Boyd sensibly keeps the focus on Cashel Ross and exploring events made him live the life of a romantic, committed to his own way and discovering his own truths.
If you’re a Boyd enthusiast, you will know that you’re in for an enjoyable read with the trademark Boyd approach of detailed depiction of people and places. If you’re new to Boyd, then certainly give it a try but remember that this novel is best read at a slower, almost contemplative pace. There’s no benefit in skimming it to get to more dramatic interludes. This is because Boyd is covering over eighty years of Ross’s life and his complex relationships. You can’t rush the reading of this depth of writing.
My thanks go to NetGalley for making available a pre-publication copy so that I might write an honest and unbiased review.

Set in nineteenth century, Cashel travels extensively, the most important part of this novel for me is when he meets his love. I could visualise each part the descriptions are so well written with a wry humour that is well developed. A bittersweet return I enjoyed the irony.

A longtime fan of William Boyd's novels and this one didn't disappoint. . A fictional autobiography centered around the likeable character Cashew Greville Ross and how his life links through to historical events of the 19th century. Well written, wonderful story and interesting characters throughout. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance readers copy

The Romantic is hugely well written and a lyrical journey through a life in the 19th century.
It had wit and charm and was a great read.

Well that's more like a William Boyd. Or rather, the sort of Boyd that I enjoy.

I've been disappointed with some of his more recent books but this takes me back to wonderful saga style that he is so brilliant at.

In The Romantic we follow the life of Cashel Greville Ross who, you might be forgiven for thinking, was a real person, such is the mastery of Boyd's work. Ross begins life ignominiously enough but he makes the most of the opportunities that come his way. Although I can't help thinking that things happen to Mr Ross rather than him making them occur. In fact when he does have an idea of how to proceed in life it invariably means disaster to some extent.

I think the only time Cashel makes the running is in affairs of the heart and the name of the book is apt. He is a true romantic. From affairs of the heart to wanting to be a success at anything, Cashel Ross finds himself generally outplayed, outwitted and taken advantage of at every turn.

This might sound like a bad thing but he always takes his beatings with grace and finds another scheme to make his name. He's extremely adaptable, personable, attractive and a gentleman to boot.

All in all this is a thoroughly enjoyable, immensely readable book. It's not overlong as some fictional autobiographies can be and you get some very famous names thrown in for good measure as Cashel Greville Ross continues his adventures from Waterloo to the discovery of the source of the Nile.

Highly recommended for fans of Boyd or not. If you simply enjoy a good tale, extremely well told you will enjoy this. Just don't try to rush it. Sit back and enjoy the life.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin books for the ARC. To say I was delighted to be approved would be a huge understatement.