Sweet Caress
The Many Lives of Amory Clay
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- ¥2,000
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Amory's first memory is of her father doing a handstand. She has memories of him returning on leave during the First World War. But his absences, both actual and emotional, are what she chiefly remembers. It is her photographer uncle Greville who supplies the emotional bond she needs, and, when he gives her a camera and some rudimentary lessons in photography, unleashes a passion that will irrevocably shape her future.
A spell at boarding school ends abruptly and Amory begins an apprenticeship with Greville in London, living in his flat in Kensington, earning two pounds a week photographing socialites for fashionable magazines. But Amory is hungry for more and her search for life, love and artistic expression will take her to the demi monde of Berlin of the late 1920s, to New York of the 1930s, to the Blackshirt riots in London and to France in the Second World War where she becomes one of the first women war photographers. Her desire for experience will lead Amory to further wars, to lovers, husbands and children as she continues to pursue her dreams and battle her demons.
In this enthralling story of a life fully lived, William Boyd has created a sweeping panorama of some of the most defining moments of modern history, told through the camera lens of one unforgettable woman, Amory Clay. It is his greatest achievement to date.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Throughout his career, and especially in his masterly Every Human Heart, Boyd has excelled in depicting the life of a talented artist who suffers more failures than triumphs yet generates significant art. Here he has invented a spunky heroine named Amory Clay, born in Britain in 1908, educated at a boarding school, and determined to become a professional photographer. Amory is restless, rash, impulsive and way ahead of her time. Her job as a society photographer ends in scandal, as does her next adventure in decadent prewar Berlin, where she infiltrates secret sex clubs and snaps the debauched antics there. Another scandal ensues when her photos are confiscated as pornographic and she is arrested for obscenity. (In a nice touch, Boyd scatters 70 snapshots throughout the novel as examples of Amory's work.) A dashing lover brings her to the U.S. for magazine assignments; another lover appears, and she begins a second relationship. WWII is the crucible in which Amory finds her true calling as a war photographer. In Germany she meets army officer Sholto Farr, a Scottish aristocrat, whom she later marries, but soon she is unmoored once more. In addition to the psychologically rich characterization, a wealth of atmospheric details what the characters wear, the brands of cigarettes they smoke, and the whisky they knock back add depth, immediacy, and authenticity to an engrossing, moving story of Amory's turns of fortune.
