William Boyd Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Plays

Publication Order of James Bond Books

Publication Order of Park Stories Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

William Boyd is a well known author from Ghana who likes to write in the literature & fiction genre. He has successfully written many novels that are quite popular all over the world. Boyd was born on March 7, 1952 in Accra, Ghana in a Scottish descent. As a child, he spent most of his early days in Ghana and Nigeria, where his father used to work as a doctor and his mother as a teacher. During the Biafran wars, he was still in Nigeria and the brutal conflict of the secessionists between the years 1967 and 1970 had a great impact on him. Boyd went on to attend the Gordonstoun school in Moray, Scotland at the age of nine. Later, he enrolled himself at the Nice University for a diploma in French studies and then at the Glasgow University for a Masters and Honors degree in Philosophy and English. While studying at the Glasgow University, Boyd had become the editor of the magazine of the university called as Guardian. In the year 1975, he joined the Jesus College in Oxford for doing a PhD on Shelley. During that time, Boyd worked as a TV critic at the New Statesman magazine for a short time. After completing his PhD, he became an English lecturer at Oxford and began teaching the art of contemporary novel writing to the students of St. Hilda’s College. Boyd continued with this job for a period of three years between 1980 and 1983. During this period, he was successful in publishing his first stand alone novel, on which he had worked for a very long time.

By this time, he had made up his mind to become a full time author. However, after spending 8 years at the academia, he was given the offer of a college lectureship. But, accepting the offer would have meant that he would have to spend more time teaching than writing. As a result, he was in the difficult situation of choosing anyone between writing and teaching. Boyd went after his passion and chose writing to be his full time career. Boyd was able to make his first film named Good and Bad at Games, during his time at the academia. He was greatly encouraged by one of his achievements in the year 1983 in which he was selected as one of the twenty Best of Young British Novelists in a promotional event by the Book Marketing Council and the Granta magazine. In the same year, Boyd became a joined the Royal Society of Literature as a Fellow. Due to his successful and prosperous writing career, he was able to obtain honorary doctorates in literature from a number of universities such as Stirling, St. Andrews and Glasgow, following which he was appointed as the Commander of the Order of British Empire in the year 2005. Boyd’s wife Susan has been with him right from when they met at the Glasgow University as students. He loves her so much that all his books have been dedicated to her. Susan works as the editor-at-large of the Harper’s Bazaar magazine. The couple spends around 30 to 40 days in the US. They also have a house in Chelsea, West London, but like to spend most of their time in Bergerac, southwest France. At their chateau in Bergerac, Boyd produces award-winning and popular wines.

The first novel written by William Boyd was titled ‘A Good Man in Africa’. It was published in the year 1981 by the Vintage publishing house. The plot of the novel revolves around the life of a British diplomat named Morgan Leafy, living in the small republic of Kinjanja in Africa. In the opening sequence of the novel, Morgan is depicted as bumbling heavily through his job in the republic of Kinjanja in Africa. He is described by the author as a woman-loving person and also has a great fondness for different kinds of drinks. Whenever Morgan sees a little bit of success, the country’s loathing causes formidable obstacles in his path. Soon, he gets appointed as an operative in the Operation Kingpin and is given the job of monitoring the front runner in the republic of Kinjanja in Africa, during the national elections. He sees this opportunity as a real profession and hopes of achieving a true professional recognition and reassignment. However, things begin to change and go out of hand after some time as Morgan finds himself diagnosed with a deadly disease. He also finds out that he is getting blackmailed and is confounded with a corpse. These events make him realize that nothing was going as per his plans. The novel was very successful in its depiction of strong characters and an interesting plot. It went on to win a couple of literary awards such as the Somerset Maugham Award in the year 1982 and the White-bread Award in 1981 in the Best First Novel category. The second novel written by Boyd was published by the Vintage publishing house in the year 1981. It was titled ‘On the Yankee Station’.

Just like the first novel, this novel too depicts the life a desperate hero, who tries to redeem his life from failures and unsatisfactory outcomes. The plot of the novel revolves around a world full of weary souls who turn towards fantasy in order to escape from the inequities of their lives. This is the life story of all similar men from the pool-sides of California up to the Vietnamese battlegrounds. One such Englishman is stranded in a hotel in Africa during a coup and tries to impress a young stewardess with enchanting stories of life, which are at odds completely with the his existence sordidly in The Coup. Also, an American pilot in Vietnam is depicted as an arrogant and sadistic person, who takes the power of revenge lightly after persecuting one of his maintenance crew relentlessly. The novel is full of rare compassion and droll humor, showing the enthralling stories in a typical style of fine contemporary storytellers by author William Boyd. The plot of one of the stories of the novel is set at the Yankee Station, which was the operations center of the US Navy at the time of the Vietnam War, and features Morgan Leafy as an anti-hero. The novel received great appreciations from the critics as well as the readers. People also praised the writing style of Boyd, combining comedy, violence and experiment in a crisp and energetic way.