ORDINARY THUNDERSTORMS

ANY HUMAN HEART

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 in London, 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.

BRAZZAVILLE BEACH (X Rated)

The story is seen through the eyes of a young woman working on a field study of chimpanzees. She examines the complex circumstances that brought her to this place, searching the details for evidence of her own innocence or guilt. X rated, contains offensive language and explicit sexual content.

THE DREAM LOVER

Twenty-four gripping tales told in bold, distinct voices from Brazil to Africa and from Nice to Hollywood. Funny, moving and sharply observed, these stories are confirmation of Boyd's status as one of English fiction's finest writers.

THE DREAMS OF BETHANY MELLMOTH

A philandering art dealer tries to give up casual love affairs - seeking only passionate kisses as a substitute. A man recounts his personal history through the things he has stolen from others throughout his life. A couple chart the journey of their five year relationship backwards, from awkward reunion to lovelorn first encounter. And, at the heart of this collection of stories, a young woman, Bethany Mellmoth, embarks on a year-long journey of wishful and tentative self-discovery.

AN ICE-CREAM WAR

On the Western Front millions are being slaughtered. But in East Africa a ridiculous and utterly ignored campaign is being waged - one that continues after the Armistice because no one bothers to tell the participants to stop. As the conflict sweeps up Africans and colonials, so those left at home and those fighting abroad find themselves unable to escape the tide of history bearing down on them.

LOVE IS BLIND

When Brodie is offered a job in Paris, he seizes the chance to flee Edinburgh and his tyrannical clergyman father, and begin a wildly different new chapter in his life. In Paris, a fateful encounter with a famous pianist irrevocably changes his future - and sparks an obsessive love affair with a beautiful Russian soprano, Lika Blum.

RESTLESS

During the Second World War Eva Delectorskaya becomes the perfect spy who trusts no one including her family. After the war she must complete one final assignment and this time she needs her daughter’s help. Richard & Judy Bookclub

THE ROMANTIC

Born in 1799, Cashel Greville Ross experiences myriad lives: joyous and devastating, years of luck and unexpected loss. Moving from County Cork to London, from Waterloo to Zanzibar, Cashel seeks his fortune across continents in war and in peace. He faces a terrible moral choice in a village in Sri Lanka as part of the East Indian Army. He enters the world of the Romantic Poets in Pisa. In Ravenna he meets a woman who will live in his heart for the rest of his days. As he travels the world as a soldier, a farmer, a felon, a writer, a father, a lover, he experiences all the vicissitudes of life and, through the accelerating turbulence of the nineteenth century, he discovers who he truly is. This is the romance of life itself, and the beating heart of The Romantic.

SOLO

It is 1969 and James Bond is about to go solo, recklessly motivated by revenge. Bond’s renegade action leads him to Washington D C, where he discovers a web of geopolitical intrigue and witnesses fresh horrors. Even if Bond succeeds in exacting his revenge, a man with two faces will come to stalk his every waking moment.

SWEET CARESS: THE MANY LIVES OF AMORY CLAY

When Amory's photographer uncle gives her a camera and some lessons in photography, he unwittingly unleashes a passion that will irrevocably shape her future. Her search for life, love and artistic expression takes her to the demi monde of Berlin of the late 20s, to New York of the 30s, and to France in the Second World War where she becomes one of the first women war photographers.

WAITING FOR SUNRISE

Moving from Vienna to London's West End, the battlefields of France, and the hotel rooms of Geneva, this is the story of young English actor Lysander Rief. He meets Sigmund Freud in a cafe´, begins to write a journal, enjoys secret trysts with Hattie Bull, and appears - miraculously - to have been cured of his neurosis.

WILLIAM BOYD: A BBC RADIO DRAMA COLLECTION

A collection of BBC dramatisations and readings of William Boyd's award-winning novels and short stories One of Britain's foremost contemporary writers, William Boyd is renowned worldwide for his bestselling novels, which have been translated into over 30 languages. He has won numerous awards, including the Somerset Maugham Award (for A Good Man in Africa), the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize (for An Ice-Cream War) and the Costa Book Award (for Restless). Collected here are the BBC radio productions of all three acclaimed books. Starring Alan Rickman Alison Steadman and Bill Patterson, A Good Man in Africa tells the satirical story of a buffoonish diplomat's struggles in a fictional West African country. In the espionage thriller Restless, it is 1976, and Ruth discovers that her very English mother, Sally, is in fact a Russian emigre and former British spy. Eileen Atkins stars as Sally, with Fenella Woolgar as Ruth. And in An Ice-Cream War, as millions face slaughter on the Western Front, British and German colonists in East Africa try to emulate their European counterparts. Nickolas Grace and William Hootkins star in this darkly comic drama. Also included are dramatisations of three of Boyd's superb short stories. 'On the Yankee Station' is a gripping tale of revenge on an American aircraft carrier; 'The Destiny of Nathalie X' features an African filmmaker's encounter with Hollywood and its grotesque inhabitants; and in the eerie 'A Haunting', a landscape architect finds himself taken over by an unseen presence. Peter Whitman, Keith Edwards, John Sessions and Maynard Eziashi are among the star casts. We conclude with five further stories, read by Ben Miles, Jonathan Firth, Bill Nighy, Niamh Cusack and Tom Goodman-Hill. 'Adult Video' features an Oxford post-graduate who 'rewinds', 'fast forwards' and 'plays' through his life; 'Varengeville' sees a young boy go exploring and meet a painter - as his mother entertains her 'friend'; 'Lunch' reveals a diner's eventful days through his restaurant receipts and pithy comments; 'Fantasia on a Favourite Waltz' centres around a prostitute's encounter with a talented young pianist; and 'The Pigeon' takes us into the world of a sickly author facing romantic betrayal and family fissures.