Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
The Romantic
- Narrated by: Kobna Holbrook-Smith
- Length: 17 hrs and 21 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
£0.00 for first 30 days
Buy Now for £16.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
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.
From one of Britain's best-loved and bestselling writers comes an intimate yet panoramic novel set across the nineteenth century.
Critic reviews
"The Romantic by William Boyd was the novel I enjoyed most this year. It's incredibly ambitious, its hero moving from Co Cork to London, then from Waterloo to Zanzibar, and at one point even joining the East Indian Army, but it was such an easy, indulgent read." (Sathnam Sanghera)
"[One of the] most enjoyable new novels I read this year...it] offers deep pleasure to those who love novels, instruction to anyone setting out to write one." (Allan Massie)
"William Boyd's The Romantic is disguised a an historical biography - The Real Life of Cashel Greville Ross - but is actually an utterly engrossing adventure story...Cashel, we understand, is searching for himself, but in the process he provides romance, entertainment and enlightenment for his readers. How better to spend the relaxed days around Xmas than following his footsteps." (Antonia Fraser)
What listeners say about The Romantic
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ed Switzerland
- 07-03-23
Up there with Any Human Heart
William Boyd on brilliant form. Highly entertaining story, excellent narration including multiple accents. Can only recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 10-04-23
Interesting life
I very much enjoyed this book. The story of a true romantic.
Definitely recommend this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Helen
- 16-12-22
A great romp across the century
I am a big fan of William Boyd and feverishly wait for the next novel. I listen when I am running and love a book where I can lose myself. This certainly met the brief, as I was transported back to the 19th Cenury to many adventures with our hero.
The narration was brilliant and ideally suited to Cashel and his contempories. Overall my listening was a very satisfying experience.
Whilst 'Any Human Heart' remains my favourite Boyd novel, I have listened to it too many times now. The Romantic is up there with the best of them and a repeat listen in a year or so will no doubt add to my enjoyment of this story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 02-06-23
AMAZING
That was the most tremendous novel. Wonderfully narrated. I am so sad that it came to an end.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 06-02-24
“What do we leave behind us when we die?”
Boyd excels in his ability to maintain a narrative; never better than when the back-bone is the life of an individual. So it is here with the life of Cashel Greville Ross. This is a novel of adventures, incidents, glories and disappointments. So much doing in one person’s life. There is a question that haunts the listener (or reader) in how far to rely on the main character’s views and interpretation of events. He is certainly a character that is prone and likely to follow his heart, not necessarily to his benefit or credit. But this is not a novel about a ‘hero’, but a man that is energetic, passionate, adventurous, and fallible. There is significant room to wonder about other people’s motives. The narratives pulls like a train. This is also a novel where the main character finds himself in significant events in history, or in the company of several famous people. The closing pages of this novel, then, do pose the general question that Boyd raises himself, “What do we leave behind us when we die?” Our hearts go out to Cashel Greville Ross and there is a something of a chill which might cause the listener’s own introspection. Can a life well lived, following the heart be adequate substitute to a known legacy? Character and narrative with Boyd are well honed and there will be no concerns in this novel. As often the case, Boyd may use a word or phrase that makes you wonder or to look it up. All to the good. The performance of this audio-book by Kobna Holbrook-Smith I wonderful, sympathetic, touching and so good. When some performers make a hash of deal with foreign pronunciations, here there is simple wonder as to how he achieves such confident authenticity. One of the several benefits from keeping to hand the hard-copy or electronic version of a book when listening to an audio-book is being able to glance back, or to see something that the audio-book omits. Sometimes the omission deprives the listener of that they might have wanted to hear. So is the case with ‘The Romantic’. The audio-book does not include the ‘author’s note of the hard-copy I had to hand and this is a loss. None the less, a wonderful book that with engage, maintain the listener's attention and intrigue. Try it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 03-04-24
Fascinating
It took a while to ‘get into’ this William Boyd but then I found the adventures of Cashel Ross quite fascinating and exciting. Quite a long story but then it did cover 75 years of this man’s life. He visited and lived in so many different places in the 19th Century world, I needed to look them up on an atlas so a good geography lesson as well as a good listen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark
- 05-11-22
Brilliant Storytelling
William Boyd is my favourite writer so I had very high hopes for this novel and it definitely did not disappoint. Usually I listen to my books as a secondary activity to accompany walking, driving and gardening but this wonderfully colourful novel forced me to sit in my favourite armchair with a G&T and just listen. It beautifully mixes romance with adventure as our hero progresses through life - and what a life. There are numerous 'Sliding Doors' moments and one in particular that defines the whole novel. I loved it and hope Apple TV commission it for a long form series like 'Shantaram'.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- sin sin minkin
- 25-01-23
Brilliantly read
With a story full of various blended accents, you might wonder how the actor night manage. He does a fantastic job.
As expected from Boyd, the story's sprawling narrative is not only well-researched and beautifully evoked, it also delivers that sense of a whole life lived and lived satisfyingly well.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Peter Bottomley
- 04-02-23
Wonderful!
Thoroughly gripping, full of surprises and perfectly narrated. I especially appreciated the convincing pronuciation of foreign speech as well as all the variety of spoken English.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alan
- 07-09-23
Sad when it ended.
I really enjoyed this book, I enjoy whole life books, especially when the author includes real events and/or people, makes you believe the story is non fiction, but i know its the authors trick, well it works on me.
The author has had similar success with Any Human Heart, which i also greatly enjoyed.
The narrator was excellent, and added to my enjoyment of the audio-book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!