William Boyd Books in Order

Morgan Leafy is a bumbling, somewhat corrupt British diplomat in West Africa who finds his life spiraling out of control. Between blackmail, a looming election, and his own bad decisions, he tries desperately to save his career in this dark comedy.

A collection of short stories that ranges from the California coast to the battlefields of Vietnam. It introduces readers to Boyd's sharp eye for human folly and includes early appearances of characters like Morgan Leafy.

A darkly comic and tragic look at the absurdities of conflict, set in East Africa during World War I. The story follows British and German colonists whose lives are upended as the distant war encroaches on their neighbors and farms.

Henderson Dores, a shy British art historian, travels to the American South to assess a collection, only to find himself completely out of his depth. He encounters a bizarre cast of characters in a culture clash that is both hilarious and excruciating.

A volume containing two television scripts, *Good and Bad at Games* and *Dutch Girls*, which explore the cruel hierarchies of public school life. It also includes a non-fiction introduction where Boyd reflects on his own schooldays.

The sweeping autobiography of John James Todd, a Scotsman born in 1899 who becomes a filmmaker. His life spans the 20th century, taking him from the trenches of WWI to Berlin, Hollywood, and eventually exile, all while he chases his artistic obsession.

A scientist retreats to a research center in Africa to study chimpanzee behavior, but finds the ape society as violent and complex as the human one she left behind. As she observes a civil war among the chimps, she reflects on her own turbulent past.

The third Minerva volume is a collection of short fiction edited by Giles Gordon and David Hughes. William Boyd is one of the contributors in this anthology, which brings together stories by multiple writers rather than presenting a single-author collection.

In 1936 Los Angeles, a young woman meets a stranger who claims to be her father. He recounts a mesmerizing tale of murder, passion, and surgery in Manila at the turn of the century, drawing her into a mystery that spans generations.

A short story focused on a young boy living in Africa who grapples with his family's dysfunction. He channels his confusion and anger into a ritualistic hunt for lizards, revealing the darker undercurrents of his childhood.

A collection of short stories featuring the title piece, a biting satire about an African filmmaker who takes Hollywood by storm. The stories explore themes of fame, cultural collision, and the unpredictable nature of success.

A comprehensive collection of short fiction that brings together stories from earlier volumes. It showcases Boyd's versatility, moving from satire and dark comedy to poignant character studies set in locations around the world.

A novella based on the life of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Set in Vienna and beyond, it explores his complex family history, his intellectual struggles, and the turbulent era in which he lived.

Lorimer Black, a London insurance adjuster who suffers from insomnia, finds his carefully ordered life unraveling. After stumbling onto a suspicious hanging, he is pulled into a noir-ish world of fraud and danger where nothing is quite what it seems.

A biography of an Abstract Expressionist artist who destroyed almost all his work before his suicide. The book is actually a masterful hoax—a fictional life so convincing that it fooled many in the art world upon its release.

William Boyd’s brief autobiographical work revisits formative episodes from his childhood, moving between West Africa and his Scottish schooling. Rather than a conventional full-life memoir, it gathers personal recollections that trace the places and experiences that shaped his early years.

Edited by Duncan Minshull and Helen Wallace, this anthology gathers fourteen contemporary stories in which music is central. Drawn initially from BBC Radio 3 broadcasts, the selection includes a contribution by William Boyd alongside work by writers such as William Trevor and Rose Tremain.

The intimate journals of Logan Mountstuart, a writer whose life traverses the entire 20th century. He crosses paths with literary giants and historical figures, experiencing war, love, failure, and espionage in this acclaimed portrait of a life fully lived.

A collection of short stories that captures brief, intense moments of human connection and disconnection. The characters range from a film director in 1920s Berlin to modern couples navigating the complexities of desire and regret.

A substantial collection of Boyd's non-fiction writing, including essays, reviews, and autobiographical pieces. It covers topics ranging from art and literature to his childhood in Africa and his experiences in the film industry.

A young woman discovers that her quiet, eccentric mother was actually a British spy during World War II. As the full story unfolds, she learns of a dangerous mission in 1940s America and a betrayal that has remained hidden for decades.

An audio anthology of unabridged short fiction, Great Modern Stories presents work by a range of twentieth- and twenty-first-century authors. Its selections span modes including ghost story, domestic drama, mystery, and character study; William Boyd, Haruki Murakami, and Joanna Trollope are among the contributors.

A young climatologist in London accidentally becomes involved in a murder and must go off the grid to survive. He sheds his identity and disappears into the city's underbelly, navigating a world of invisible immigrants and desperate outcasts.

Part of the four-volume Ox-Tales project, Water collects short fiction and a poem connected by the element of water. William Boyd contributes alongside writers including Esther Freud, Zoë Heller, and Michael Morpurgo; the project was created to support Oxfam’s work.

The Just When Stories is an anthology inspired by Kipling’s Just So Stories, with authors contributing animal-centered tales. William Boyd’s story concerns a chimpanzee, and the collection was created to raise funds and awareness for endangered-species conservation.

This anthology includes a Jon Ronson piece alongside new stories and poems from Book Slam writers such as Hari Kunzru, Helen Oyeyemi, Irvine Welsh, and others. It is a lively snapshot of a literary scene rather than a single Ronson narrative.

In 1913 Vienna, a young English actor becomes a patient of a psychoanalyst and gets swept up in a sexual obsession. As war breaks out, he is drawn into an espionage plot that follows him back to London and the battlefields of Europe.

A play adapted from two short stories by Anton Chekhov. It weaves together comic and tragic threads of 19th-century Russian provincial life, exploring missed opportunities and the quiet desperation of characters longing for something more.

A James Bond continuation novel set in 1969. A veteran 007 is sent to West Africa to stop a civil war funded by heroin trafficking, embarking on a mission that strips him of his usual support network and forces him to go rogue.

A down-on-his-luck actor accepts a job to deliver a mysterious package in a battered Land Rover. What starts as a simple drive into Scotland quickly turns into a dangerous thriller involving a shadowy cast of characters.

The life story of Amory Clay, a pioneering photographer who documents the major events of the 20th century. From 1920s Berlin and 1930s New York to the Vietnam War, her camera captures history while she navigates her own complicated loves and losses.

A dark comedy for the stage that begins with a couple arguing over a movie. The dispute spirals outward, drawing in their friends and parents, and exposing the deep-seated resentments and fragile truths holding their relationships together.

A collection of short stories that examines the random and often farcical nature of modern life. The title story follows a young woman drifting through a series of bad relationships and career mishaps in contemporary London.

Set in the late 19th century, this novel follows a Scottish piano tuner who falls into a passionate affair with a Russian soprano. Their love story takes them from Paris to St. Petersburg and eventually the Andaman Islands in a tale of obsession and fate.

In 1968 Brighton, three people involved in the making of a movie lead secret double lives. A producer, a writer, and an actress grapple with private crises that threaten to collide amidst the chaotic, swinging atmosphere of the film set.

The rollicking life story of Cashel Greville Ross, born in 1799. He lives through the 19th century as a soldier, lover, farmer, and explorer, traveling from Waterloo to Zanzibar in a picaresque journey defined by impulsive decisions and romantic pursuit.

In 1960s London, travel writer Gabriel Dax is haunted by a childhood tragedy and chronic insomnia. After an assignment in the Congo, he is recruited by a handler at MI6, beginning a reluctant career in espionage that forces him to confront his own past.

The sequel to *Gabriel's Moon* finds Gabriel Dax deeper in the spy game during the pivotal year of 1963. Caught between competing intelligence agencies, he must navigate a treacherous landscape of Cold War politics where loyalty is a luxury he cannot afford.

In Cold War Moscow, reluctant spy Gabriel Dax is sent to deliver a mysterious drawing to defector Kit Caldwell. When Caldwell fears the KGB and demands escape, Dax and his handler Faith Green are drawn into a perilous operation shaped by fractured loyalties.