Discover our December Book of the Month: Any Human Heart by William Boyd
This month we revisit a novel that takes us on personal journey through the 20th century. Plus: explore our reading guide, read an extract, listen to the podcast, and win a copy of the novel
Throughout December, we’re celebrating our latest Book of the Month – William Boyd’s Any Human Heart. Told in a series of intimate journals, the story of Logan Mountstuart – writer, lover, art dealer, spy – unfolds as he makes his often precarious way through the 20th century. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Caroline Moore called the novel a work of ‘astonishing ventriloquistic virtuosity’.
Any Human Heart was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2002 and went on to be adapted for TV in 2010. It was Boyd’s second nomination for the prize, after being shortlisted for his debut, An Ice-Cream War, in 1982. A prolific writer, his work has been published around the world and has been translated into over 30 languages. In 2005, he was awarded the CBE.
If you’d like to know more, you can read an extract from the beginning of the novel, and we have compiled a detailed reading guide to accompany it. Don’t miss our latest episode of The Booker Prize Podcast, where Jo Hamya and James Walton take a closer look at the book with special guest Sara Cox, host of BBC television’s Between the Covers, which featured the book earlier this week. Make sure you enter our competition to win a copy of the book, along with a newly designed Booker Prize tote bag, which is not available to buy.
Read an extract from Any Human Heart
Every life is both ordinary and extraordinary – but Logan Mountstuart’s is more extraordinary than most. As a writer who finds inspiration with Hemingway in Paris and Woolf in London, as a spy recruited by Ian Fleming and betrayed in the war and as an art-dealer in 60s New York, Logan mixes with the movers and shakers of his times. But as a son, friend, lover and husband, he makes the same mistakes we all do in our search for happiness.
The Booker Prize Podcast, Episode 25: Any Human Heart by William Boyd
On The Booker Prize Podcast this week, Jo and James are joined by Sara Cox, the host of BBC Two’s Between the Covers, to discuss our December Book of the Month, which was also featured on a recent episode of the TV show. Listen in as they revisit Any Human Heart while chatting about Sara’s favourite Booker Prize books, her path to becoming a reader, and more.
Reading guide: Any Human Heart by William Boyd
Whether you’re new to Any Human Heart or have read it and would like to explore it more deeply, here is our comprehensive guide, which includes a synopsis, character summaries, critics’ comments and a range of discussion points for book clubs.
Win a copy of Any Human Heart – and a Booker Prize tote bag
To celebrate our December Book of the Month, we are giving you the chance to win one of five copies of the novel and an exclusive, limited-edition, Booker Prize tote bag with a brand-new design. This competition is open to readers across the world.
Have you read Any Human Heart, or are you joining us in reading the novel this month? If so, we’d love to hear what you think in the comments below
Thoughts: I discovered this novel after I watched the masterpiece theater based on it, which I thought was outstanding. Then I read the book. I highly recommend it, along with the novel I'm currently reading which I think everyone should read in light of the current conflict in Palestine. Gates of the Sun by Elias Khourly.
Absolutely love this book!