Published in 2002, William Boyd’s ninth novel, originally entitled Any Human Heart: The Intimate Journals of Logan Mountstuart, is considered to be among his best books (Rennison, 2004), winning the Prix Jean Monnet for European literature. It is also one of his best-known books since its adaptation into a television mini-series in 2010. The title comes from the opening sentence of Henry James’s short story “Louisa Pallant” (1888): “Never say you know the last word about any human heart.” This suggests a type of universality to the life of Logan Mountstuart, a character treated by some reviewers as an “everyman”.
Having appeared soon after the start of the twenty-first century, the story spans the twentieth century, covering the life Logan Mountstuart from 1906 to 1991. This character was first introduced by Boyd in his novel...
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Citation: Trimarco, Paola. "Any Human Heart". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 February 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12917, accessed 09 June 2026.]
