Any Human Heart by William Boyd

Every life is both ordinary and extraordinary, and Logan Mountstuart's - stretching across the twentieth century - is a rich tapestry of both. As a writer who finds inspiration with Hemingway in Paris and Virginia 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 men and women who shape his times. But as a son, friend, lover and husband, he makes the same mistakes we all do in our search for happiness.

Here, then, is the story of a life lived to the full - and a journey deep into a very human heart.

'One of the things this book does so brilliantly, is it so authentically recreates historical characters' Ben Miller, on BBC 2's Between The Covers

Paperback, 528 pages
Publication: 26 Oct 2009, Penguin
ISBN: 9780141044170