Synopses & Reviews
“Utterly engaging….A novel of ideas, of big themes….William Boyd is a champion storyteller.” -
New York Times Book Review William Boyds classic Brazzaville Beach has been called as a “bold seamless blend of philosophy and suspense… [that] nevertheless remains accessible to general readers on a level of pure entertainment.” (Boston Globe). Released to coincide with Boyds latest novel, Ordinary Thunderstorms, Brazzaville Beach tells the story of a British primate-researcher who relocates to war-torn Africa in the wake of her husbands tragic descent into mental illness. Intense, exhilarating, and engrossing, Brazzaville Beach is “rich in action and thought,” and William Boyd “a writer who allows the scope of his work to expand to the point of bursting.” (Los Angeles Times Book Review)
Review
"A remarkable book that deserves to be read by a large audience....The themes in Mr. Boyd's novel are universal. The story is compelling. The setting is exotic. In virtually every respect I am enthusiastic about Brazzabille Beach." Baltimore Sun
Review
"[H]ighly readable....Boyd should widen his audience with this adroitly written, accessible tale." Publishers Weekly
Review
"An engrossing novel about the nature of man and apes...a bold, seamless blend of philosophy and suspense...rich and intricate, it neverhteless remains accessible to general readers on a level of pure entertainment." Boston Globe
Review
"Masterful...a marvelous book...an odyssey through that darkest of all continents the human heart." Houston Chronicle
Synopsis
Rarely does a novel come along that combines lyrical writing, provocative ideas, and breathtaking adventure as deftly as William Boyd's Brazzaville Beach; and few books in the past decade have received such overwhelming critical praise. It is the story of primate researcher Hope Clearwater, who contemplates the extraordinary events of a life that has left her washed up on a distant, lonely beach. For, in the heart of a dangerous, civil war-torn African nation, Hope made a shocking discovery about apes and man. And now she must come to terms with some hard truths about marriage and madness, the greed and savagery of charlatan science, and about what compels seemingly benign creatures to kill for pleasure alone.
Synopsis
In the heart of a civil war-torn African nation, primate researcher Hope Clearwater made a shocking discovery about apes and man...
Young, alone, and far from her family in Britain, Hope Clearwater contemplates the extraordinary events that left her washed up like driftwood on Brazzaville Beach. It is here, on the distant, lonely outskirts of Africa, where she must come to terms with the perplexing and troubling circumstances of her recent past. For Hope is a survivor of the devastating cruelities of apes and humans alike. And to move forward, she must first grasp some hard and elusive truths: about marriage and madness, about the greed and savagery of charlatan science...and about what compels seemingly benign creatures to kill for pleasure alone.
About the Author
William Boyd was born in Accra, Ghana, and attended university in Nice, Glasgow and Oxford. He is the author of seven novels, including Any Human Heart, Armadillo, A Good Man in Africa and Brazzaville Beach, and has written eleven screenplays. He has been the recipient of several awards, including the Whitbread Award for Best First Novel, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction. William Boyd lives with his wife in London and southwest France.