‘Any Human Heart’ by William Boyd.

I was given this as a Christmas present by my lovely friend Livvy, who loves reading just as much as me and appreciates how special new books are. Coincidentally, Channel 4 recently adapted this into a four-part drama (starring the delectable Sam Claflin, and the lovely Matthew MacFayden), and I am a strict believer in read-before-you-watch, so have been devouring this like a mad thing. 

The book begins with a Henry James quote – never a bad thing, if you ask me – "Never say you know the last word about any human heart.". It doesn’t exactly have a plot, there is no real message, and the main character has more flaws than good qualities. This doesn’t sound promising, I know, but bear with me – it’s fantastic. The book doesn’t need a plot, or a message, because it’s about a life – and Logan Mountstuart’s life is both ordinary and extraordinary. Through a mixture of his journals and short informative third-person narratives, we read as Logan falls in love, meets famous historical figures – Ernest Hemingway, Ian Fleming, the Duke of Windsor, and Virginia Woolf all feature at some point – visits different countries, takes on some very different jobs, writes novels, and does stupid things. The wonderful thing about this book is how real it feels. Logan is not the best person in the world, he is very human and consequently I found myself really caring about him.

We get a mixture of information – sometimes we hear what Logan ate for breakfast, the weather, or what he read in the newspaper, and sometimes we read eloquent passages on Logan’s ideas about life and its important issues, or his thoughts on an event that profoundly affects him. Logan writes differently when he is in a bad mood, when he is excited, or when he is depressed, and his voice changes over time. Boyd’s intention was to convey the idea that we are different people at different times of our lives, and you do get that idea by reading the novel. And I can’t stress this point enough – it’s just so real. I had to continually remind myself that he’s a fictional character, so I wouldn’t search Amazon for a copy of Les Cosmopolites.

Boyd is brilliant. I discovered that he’s also written a ‘biography’ of one of the characters mentioned later on in Any Human Heart – a fictional artist called Nat Tate – which I think will be added to the list of books I have to read. The (sorry for repetitiveness!) realness of this book is my favourite thing about it – it sounds like a real journal, and tells the story of a very real-sounding life, and a very human heart.

Favourite quote: It was hard, because there are many, but I’ll go for: “I only want to be with Freya: time away from her is time irretrievably lost.”