'As our journey into the future continues - the present moment drifting away, our own biographies lengthening, our pasts receding inexorably, quietly becoming "history" in the distance - so certain aspects of those retreating eras seem to come more sharply into focus and claim our attention. The longer view allows us to see these features of the recent past as truly defining characteristics of those decades that we lived through.' - William Boyd. The translator, Boyd, beautifully sums up the trilogy as one begins reading the introduction...