Sweet Caress: the many lives of Amory ClayWilliam Boyd Imagine you’re having dinner somewhere seriously ritzy. The lighting is dimmed, the napkins are pressed and there’s a really wonderful pianist. But the food, when it arrives, is … Fine. Not terrible, by any means. The chips are quite good. But you were expecting so much more. Reading William Boyd’s new novel feels a bit like that. Like Any Human Heart, it’s a fictional memoir – and it ticks many of the same boxes. Globetrotting protagonist? Check. A smudging of the line between fact and fiction? Check. Brushes with death, despotic leaders and plenty of sauce? Check, check, check. Amory Clay is born in 1908 and survives her father trying to kill her not long afterwards. Taken under the wing of her