William Boyd

The Scottish novelist and screenwriter

William lives in London with his wife Susan.

What are you doing this Christmas? We will be at our house in rural France with assorted guests. We will go for a long walk and then partake of what we call a “rolling feast” that lasts several hours: quails’ eggs, saucisson sec, petits fours salés, foie gras, langoustines grilled on an open fire.

Which book would you like to be given? The Son of Grief by Dudley Carew. I have been searching for this book (published in 1936) for three years. the internet cannot find it. Carew was a schoolboy friend of Evelyn Waugh. It has become the bibliomaniacal quest of my life. Which book will you be giving? William Gerhardie by Dido Davies (Faber). the funniest biography ever written (of a now-forgotten writer). William Boyd’s latest novel, love is blind (Viking), is out now >>

Which book has influenced you? I think it is The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene (Vintage). set in West africa (where I was born and raised), it showed me how the completely familiar could be transformed into fiction – and art.“Davies’ biography of William Gerhardie is the funniest ever written of a now-forgotten writer”