Hilary Boyd

Last updated

Hilary Boyd
Born (1949-06-23) 23 June 1949 (age 74)
Prestatyn, North Wales
Occupationnovelist
NationalityBritish
Period2011 – present
Genre Romance novel
Notable worksThursdays in the Park
Spouse Don Boyd (1973 – present)
Website
www.hilaryboyd.com

Hilary Boyd (born 23 June 1949) [1] is a Welsh-born British novelist. Her first novel, Thursdays in the Park, became an unexpected best seller. Her work, often dealing with the erotic lives of older people, has given rise to a new literary genre, described by the Observer newspaper, as 'gran-lit'. [2]

Contents

Early life

Boyd was born and spent the first six months of her life in Prestatyn, North Wales, where her father, an army major, was stationed after the war. She was later educated in London, then at the boarding school Roedean. She trained as a nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, and subsequently as a marriage guidance counsellor with Relate before reading English Literature at London University in her late 30s.[ citation needed ]

Non-fiction

After college, Boyd became a health journalist, writing about depression, step-parenting and pregnancy. She began writing fiction as a hobby whilst raising three children and working at various day jobs including running a cancer charity, Survive Cancer, working for an engineering company, and an online vitamin site. [3]

First novel

Boyd wrote, and publishers rejected, five novels before her first published novel, Thursdays in the Park, appeared from Quercus Books in 2011. Boyd was 62. In an interview for ITV News, Boyd said of her years of rejection: 'Writing was always my hobby so I would cry a little, get over it, and start again, and I would have done that until I died'. [4] Publishing fiction in later in life, Boyd was inevitably compared with late bloomer writer Mary Wesley, whose first novel appeared when Wesley was 71.

Thursdays in the Park had modest success in print form, although it was noted at the time that the investigation of the romantic lives of people in their 60s was unusual in popular literature. It was the e-book form of Thursdays that turned the work into an unexpected best-seller, topping the Amazon best-seller list for six weeks and selling, ultimately more than 650,000 copies in paper and e-book form. [5]

Comparisons were made between Thursdays in the Park and the BDSM phenomenon Fifty Shades of Grey . The Times described Boyd as "putting the sex back into sexagenarian"; and the phrase "Fifty Shades of Grey for the over 60s" was taken up by a number of newspapers including The Mail and The Independent.

Underneath the hyperbole, Boyd's novel had identified and given voice to altered expectations amongst older people. By giving life to characters in their 60s with clearly articulated sexual desires, she undermined the idea that sex is something that fades with time, and that older people are no longer sexual beings. [6]

Themes

Boyd can be seen to adopt a broadly feminist position in her works, demonstrating a particular interest in the influence older women have over their own lives as they age. A recurring thematic thread investigates the twinned ideas of invisibility and freedom. She is intrigued by the notion of the family unit as the bedrock on which all other human interactions are built, stating 'It is in the family that we learn – or don't learn – to relate effectively to others'. [7]

Novels

Non-fiction books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shani Mootoo</span> Canadian artist

Shani Mootoo, a writer, visual artist and video maker, was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1957 to Trinidadian parents. She grew up in Trinidad and relocated at the age of 19 to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She currently lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Jane Green also known by her married name, Jane Green Warburg, is an English-born American author whose works of fiction are American and international best-sellers. As of 2014, Green's books had sold in excess of 10 million copies globally, with translations of them appearing in thirty-one languages, making her a leading author, globally, of commercial women's fiction. With regard to genres, she has been described as "[o]ne of the first of the chick lit" authors, and as a founding author of the form of fiction sometimes referred to as "mum lit."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephenie Meyer</span> American author

Stephenie Meyer is an American novelist and film producer. She is best known for writing the vampire romance series Twilight, which has sold over 160 million copies, with translations into 37 different languages. Meyer was the bestselling author of 2008 and 2009 in the U.S., having sold over 29 million books in 2008 and 26.5 million in 2009. Meyer received the 2009 Children's Book of the Year award from the British Book Awards for Breaking Dawn, the Twilight series finale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilary Mantel</span> British writer (1952–2022)

Dame Hilary Mary Mantel was a British writer whose work includes historical fiction, personal memoirs and short stories. Her first published novel, Every Day Is Mother's Day, was released in 1985. She went on to write 12 novels, two collections of short stories, a personal memoir, and numerous articles and opinion pieces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maya Banks</span> American author

Maya Banks is an American bestselling author of erotic romance, romantic suspense, contemporary romance, and Scottish historical romance novels.

<i>Fifty Shades of Grey</i> 2011 erotic romance novel by E.L. James

Fifty Shades of Grey is a 2011 erotic romance novel by British author E. L. James. It became the first installment in the Fifty Shades novel series that follows the deepening relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia Steele, and a young business magnate, Christian Grey. It contains explicitly erotic scenes featuring elements of sexual practices involving BDSM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. L. James</span> British author

Erika Mitchell, known by her pen name E. L. James, is a British author. She wrote the best-selling Fifty Shades series of erotic romance novels, which spawned a multimedia franchise including a film trilogy of the same name. Prior to this, she wrote the Twilight fan fiction "Master of the Universe" that served as the basis for the Fifty Shades series under the web name Snowqueens Icedragon. In 2019 she published her first book unconnected with the fictional world of Fifty Shades, The Mister, to negative critical reaction.

<i>Fifty Shades Freed</i> Erotic romance novel by E.L. James

Fifty Shades Freed is the third and final installment of the erotic romance Fifty Shades Trilogy by British author E. L. James. After accepting entrepreneur CEO Christian Grey's proposal in Fifty Shades Darker, Anastasia Steele must adjust not only to married life but to her new husband's wealthy lifestyle and controlling nature. The paperback edition was first published in April 2012.

<i>Gabriels Inferno</i> Novel by Sylvain Reynard

Gabriel's Inferno is an erotic romance novel by an anonymous Canadian author under the pen name Sylvain Reynard. The story was first published in novel format in 2011 by Omnific Publishing, with further publishing rights to the series being purchased by Berkley Books. The work was first published on 4 September 2012, along with the second book in the series, Gabriel's Rapture.

The Sports Book Awards is a British literary award for sports writing. It was first awarded in 2003 as part of the National Sporting Club. Awards are presented in multiple categories. Each category is judged by one of: sports writers and broadcasters, retailers and enthusiasts. The winners from each category are then opened to public vote through a website to choose an overall winner. The other major sports writing award in Britain is the William Hill Sports Book of the Year.

Sophie Morgan is a British author and journalist who lives in London. She is a two-time Sunday Times Bestselling author whose books, published by Penguin Books, have become best sellers in ten countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beth Revis</span> American novelist

Beth Revis is an American author of fantasy and science fiction, mainly for the young adult audience. She is best known for the Across the Universe trilogy, which consists of the novels Across the Universe, A Million Suns and Shades of Earth. Revis resides in North Carolina.

Ashley & JaQuavis is the pseudonym of American writing street lit duo and New York Times best selling authors Ashley Antoinette and JaQuavis Coleman. They are considered the youngest African-American co-authors to place on the New York Times Best Seller list twice. Their best-known work is the Cartel series, which appeared on the list in 2009 and 2010.

<i>Fifty Shades</i> (novel series) Erotic novel series by E. L. James

Fifty Shades is a series of erotic novels by British author E. L. James, initially a trilogy consisting of Fifty Shades of Grey (2011), Fifty Shades Darker (2012) and Fifty Shades Freed (2012). The series traces the deepening relationship between college graduate Anastasia Steele and young businessman Christian Grey. Christian introduces Ana to the world of BDSM.

Kendall Ryan is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling American novelist. She has written more than two dozen novels, including the self-published bestsellers Resisting Her, Hard to Love, The Impact of You, Hitched, Screwed, The Fix Up, Filthy Beautiful Lies and The Room Mate. Her books are described as "beautiful, electrifying love stories that can make even the most pessimistic person believe in happily ever afters." She writes romance, new adult and romantic comedies, and her books have sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. Her traditionally published books include the bestselling Love By Design series with Simon & Schuster.

<i>Fifty Shades Darker</i> 2012 erotic romance novel by E. L. James

Fifty Shades Darker is a 2012 erotic romance novel by British author E. L. James. It is the second installment in the Fifty Shades trilogy that traces the deepening relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia Steele, and a young business magnate, Christian Grey. The first and third volumes, Fifty Shades of Grey and Fifty Shades Freed, were published in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The novel is published by Vintage Books and reached No. 1 on the USA Today best seller list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colleen Hoover</span> American author (born 1979)

Colleen Hoover is an American author who primarily writes novels in the romance and young adult fiction genres. She is best known for her 2016 romance novel It Ends with Us. Many of her works were self-published before being picked up by a publishing house. As of October 2022, Hoover has sold approximately 20 million books. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leïla Slimani</span> Franco-Moroccan writer

Leïla Slimani is a French-Moroccan writer and journalist. She is also a French diplomat in her capacity as the personal representative of the French president Emmanuel Macron to the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. In 2016, she was awarded the Prix Goncourt for her novel Chanson douce.

<i>Forerunner Saga</i> Trilogy of science fiction books

The Forerunner Saga is a trilogy of science fiction novels by Greg Bear, based on the Halo series of video games. The books in the series are Halo: Cryptum (2011), Primordium (2012), and Silentium (2013). The books were released in hardcover, e-book, paperback, and audiobook. Bear was given little restriction on the story of the novel; the Halo universe had not yet been explored in that time period.

Tiffany Reisz is an American author. She is best known for the Original Sinners series of erotica and she has won the RITA Award and a Lambda Literary Award.

References

  1. ↑ "Quercus Books: Hilary Boyd in 30 Seconds". 27 November 2012. Archived from the original on 18 March 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  2. ↑ "The Guardian: Hilary Boyd and the rise of 'gran-lit'". 11 November 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  3. ↑ "Quercus Books: Hilary Boyd in 30 Seconds". 27 November 2012. Archived from the original on 18 March 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  4. ↑ "ITV News: Success of 'gran-lit' breaks stereotypes about elderly love". 16 November 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  5. ↑ "Quercus Interview: Hilary Boyd". 12 August 2011. Archived from the original on 19 March 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  6. ↑ "The Telegraph: Hilary Boyd: The over 60s want romance and sex too". 16 November 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  7. ↑ "The Telegraph: Hilary Boyd: The over 60s want romance and sex too". 16 November 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.