Arthur & George

Truly gifted narrators can negotiate split-second shifts, not only from one character's Scottish burr to another's Indian inflection, not only from the hubris of one character to the na•veté of another, but also the emotional changes of one particular character, from, say, utter confidence one moment to deepest self-doubt the next. Nigel Anthony negotiates just these hairpin turns in Barnes's absorbing character study based on true events. The "Arthur" of the novel's title is Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, then at the height of his fame, who storms to the aid of George Edalji, an earnest solicitor and the son of an Indian-born vicar who is falsely accused of a dreadful crime. M.O. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

Starred review from November 7, 2005
Arthur is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, physician, sportsman, gentleman par excellence and the inventor of Sherlock Holmes; George is George Edalji, also a real, if less well-known person, whose path crossed not quite fatefully with the famous author's. Edalji was the son of a Parsi father (who was a Shropshire vicar), and a Scots mother. In 1903, George, a solicitor, was accused of writing obscene, threatening letters to his own family and of mutilating cattle in his farm community. He was convicted of criminal behavior in a blatant miscarriage of justice based on racial prejudice. Eventually, Sir Arthur ("Irish by ancestry, Scottish by birth") heard about George's case and began to advocate on his behalf. In this combination psychological novel, detective story and literary thriller, Barnes elegantly dissects early 20th-century English society as he spins this true-life story with subtle and restrained irony. Every line delivered by the many characters—the two principals, their school chums (Barnes sketches their early lives), their families and many incidentals—rings with import. His dramatization of George's trial, in particular, grinds with telling minutiae, and his portrait of Arthur is remarkably rich, even when tackling Doyle's spiritualist side. Shortlisted for the Booker, this novel about love, guilt, identity and honor is a triumph of storytelling, taking the form Barnes perfected in Flaubert's Parrot
(1985) and stretching it yet again. 100,000 first printing; 8-city author tour
.