His work drew heavily on his own life and family, with his novels frequently exploring the experiences of the Anglo-Australian upper and middle classes.

He did not believe in the class superiority which many of his critics levelled at him;[2] was a loyal family man and friend, yet never found a lasting romantic relationship of his own.

It was Emma's fortune, inherited from her father, John Mills, an ex-convict who founded the Melbourne Brewery, that allowed their family to live comfortably.

[4] Niall notes that "Boyd did respectably in academic work; he edited the school magazine, the Mitre; he developed a love of English poetry; and, through [his headmaster's] example, he began to consider a future as a clergyman.

[4] Initially feeling no pressure to enlist, Boyd eventually signed up after hearing that some of his contemporaries at Trinity Grammar had died during the landing at Gallipoli.

On the advice of his family, who thought he might not survive the rigours expected of an ordinary Australian soldier, he travelled to England and in 1916 took up a position as a commissioned officer in the Royal East Kent Regiment, known as the "Buffs".

[2] After fighting in the trenches in France for several months during 1916 and 1917, Boyd requested a transfer and was accepted into the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 where he stayed until the end of the World War I.

Even though he had served in the military, he felt a strong sense of injustice at the bombing of German cities and the killing of innocent women and children, and questioned the complicity of the Church of England in the atrocities during that time.

[1][3] Michael Bardwell notes that Boyd was "a great campaigner [...] often writing letters to the press about matters he thought were of public importance."

A wartime example of this activism was an incident in December 1943, which Boyd relates in his autobiography Day of my Delight, quoted by Bardwell: "A group of eminent people had drawn up a petition to end by mutual agreement the night bombing of cities, which had now become senseless massacres.

[2] Wearying of that world too and with the death of his brother Penleigh in 1923, Boyd again turned to religion joining an Anglican Franciscan community in Dorset.

He survived financially on one hundred pounds a year from his parents, a short stint as acting editor of The British Australasian, and sporadic payments from his writing.

During the war he had embellished his dugout in France with a large statue of his favourite Dancing Faun, dragging it from one filthy hole to another until forced to abandon it forever in the oozing mud".

[12] After his father's death in July 1940, his mother's inheritance was released, which gave Boyd the financial freedom to live life however he chose.

[1] The money originally came from Martin's grandmother Emma à Beckett (née Mills) and had been secured with the direct intervention of his male relatives.

[1] After the success of Lucinda Brayford, he returned to Australia in 1948, intending to remain living in his grandfather à Beckett's home, 'The Grange', near Berwick.

After three years he left again for England in 1951, disappointed by his dream of 'The Grange' and the past, ignored by the Australian literary establishment, and out of touch with his younger relatives.

[4][5] Boyd moved to Rome in 1957 where he wrote the Langton tetralogy, frequently considered his finest work, the second autobiography, Day of My Delight, the travel story Much else in Italy and a light novel The Tea-Time of Love.

Thelma Herring, Barrie Reid, Patrick White and Gough Whitlam (then Leader of the Federal Opposition and a member of the Commonwealth Literary Fund committee) were among those responsible.

The fact he never married, coupled with rumours and reports of behaviour deviant from that expected of a gentleman and popular author in his position, began to raise questions and doubts about his sexual tendencies.

The publication of his two autobiographies, and to a lesser extent the biographies detailing his life and his novels contain his opinions and beliefs on society and the contemporary issues of the time.

This was one of the fundamental reasons for Boyd's success, despite a disinterest in Australian literature, as his strong religious beliefs and morals resonated with the views societies had at the time.

[23]: 153–159 Another major issue surrounding Boyd's values was his disapproval of the supposed blind patriotism encouraged during his education and military service.

[23]: 72–91  In his autobiographies he notes how such practices took attention from required skills and left many students disillusioned, particularly many of the young Englishmen facing the possibility of life on the street with no employment opportunities.This may in part be related to the sense of estrangement between Boyd and Australia as he found himself torn between the old world and the new one.

[26] Boyd's works do, however, reflect the two major preoccupations of his own life: a spiritual and religious concern; and, the disillusionment with and displacement from the two countries he was affiliated with, England and Australia.

[29]: 18 Responses to Boyd's work vary from outright hostility,[24] to others describing his novels as "alone in Australian Literature reflect[ing] the lives of an alienated British elite…".

[29]: 56 Boyd's novels are now published in the Penguin Twentieth Century Classics series, and he is described as "rubbing shoulders" with authors such as Franz Kafka.