Arthur & George by Julian BarnesMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this book which I’ve had on my book shelves for years but never got round to reading. But what was I missing? It is such a fascinating, and incredibly engaging story! Julian Barnes’ telling of the miscarriage of justice about a crime that George did not commit, but for which he was eventually wrongly imprisoned, is akin to an exciting thriller. It all happened 100 years ago, early in the 20th century. The narrative shifts easily between Arthur and George; and the characters of the two men remain so different in the fictional telling by Barnes, that it displayed for me so much skill on the part of the author.
While I found the events that surrounded George almost unbelievable, the descriptions of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his beliefs and behaviour were so surprising that it seemed too fantastical to be true. I kept telling myself, ‘Who’d have thought it?’ about the highly regarded writer of all those famous thrillers involving Sherlock Holmes. The book includes a lot of insinuation about a man called Anson and his prejudices, which I felt obliged to accept as true. He was the Chief Constable in the story and it was quite disturbing to find out that much of Anson’s authoritative opinions had such an enormous effect upon the case and the investigation that lead to George’s eventual conviction.
A very unusual book that anyone interested in British law and order should find time to read.
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