Fascination

This is William Boyd's third volume of short stories following his acclaimed collections On the Yankee Station (1981) and The Destiny of Nathalie X (1995). Described as the finest storyteller of his generation , Boyd shows his mastery of the form as these stories range widely through time and space. In a brilliant array of styles and narratives we move from 1930s Germany to Los Angeles in the Second World War, from contemporary Oxford to 19th century Russia. Whether in London or Amsterdam. Eastbourne or a Normandy village these stories explore and expose the fraught, funny, absurd, poignant and lovelorn lives of their many and varied characters.

A new collection of stories by the internationally acclaimed author of Any Human Heart (“the finest storyteller of his generation” –Chicago Tribune).

In “Notebook No. 9,” a film director’s journal becomes an unintentional record of his obsessive love for his leading lady and the slow destruction of their relationship.

In “Beulah Berlin, an A—Z,” a performance artist, longing for stability and order, reveals the details of her chaotic life through her comments on such varied subjects as angst, hay fever, photography, baby names, sonnets, and tobacco.

In “Fantasia on a Favorite Waltz,” a prostitute finds an unexpected friend in a young man who plays piano in a brothel.

In “Adult Video,” we see a man’s life in film format–rewinding to his years as a struggling student at Oxford, fast-forwarding to his dreams of success as a writer, and watching the present unfold as he proposes to his future wife for all the wrong reasons.

Exploring the ways a life can be dominated by a need for love and the torments that arise when love is misplaced or denied, these stories confirm William Boyd’s reputation as a master of the art.