It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
Brazzaville Beach

Brazzaville Beach

Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

WINNER OF THE JAMES TAIT BLACK MEMORIAL PRIZE

On Brazzaville Beach, on the edge of Africa, Hope Clearwater ponders the strange circumstances that led her to leave her husband John, and his mathematical obsessions, in England and venture to Africa to help world-renowned scientist Eugene Mallabar with his studies of wild chimps.

But the more Hope studies Mallabar, the more she comes to believe that something isn't right. That behind Mallabar, and his obsessive work, there lies another, more sinister truth: one that might also help explain Hope's reasons for leaving England . . .

'A brilliant storyteller . . . a book which stretches, tantalizes and delights' Financial Times

'A most extraordinary parable about mankind. Quite unlike anything else I have read' Sunday Express

'Brilliant, daring. A gripping and compulsive story' Herald

'Hilarious and edgy' Sunday Times

© William Boyd 1990 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

About the author

William Boyd

William Boyd was born in 1952 in Accra, Ghana, and grew up there and in Nigeria. He is the author of sixteen highly acclaimed, bestselling novels and five collections of stories. Any Human Heart was longlisted for the Booker Prize and adapted into a TV series with Channel 4. In 2005, Boyd was awarded the CBE. He is married and divides his time between London and south-west France.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more