Brazzaville Beach - by William Boyd (Paperback)

About the Book

"Utterly engaging....A novel of ideas, of big themes....William Boyd is a champion storyteller." - New York Times Book Review

William Boyd's 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 Boyd's 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 husband's 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)

Book Synopsis

"Utterly engaging....A novel of ideas, of big themes....William Boyd is a champion storyteller." - New York Times Book Review

William Boyd's 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 Boyd's 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 husband's 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)

From the Back Cover

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 cruelties 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.

Review Quotes

"Utterly engaging. . . . A novel of ideas, of big themes. . . . William Boyd is a champion storyteller." -- The New York Times Book Review