Countdown to Skyfall - William Boyd's James Bond

The new Bond novel - still as yet untitled - will, thankfully be set in 1969 and like Devil May Care act as a continuation of the Fleming novels rather than a literary answer to the film character.

“He is a middle-aged man, a middle-aged spy, and that’s one of the things that interests me” William Boyd told an audience at the Telegraph Hay Festival earlier this year. The as-yet-untitled novel is set in 1969, with Bond aged 45.

"When the Ian Fleming estate invited me to write the new James Bond novel I accepted at once. For me the prospect appeared incredibly exciting and stimulating – a once-in-a-lifetime challenge. In fact my father introduced me to the James Bond novels in the 1960s and I read them all then – From Russia with Love being my favourite." William Boyd