Will I love Arthur & George?

A literary mystery featuring Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, in a real case in which he proved an accused man innocent.

The trial was in 1903, but the novel exposes the legacy of Victorian colonialism with supreme skill. It unfolds against a society divided by racial and class prejudice. George Edalji, born to a Parsee father and an Irish mother, was imprisoned for the brutal mutilations of farm animals that took place in Wyrley.

I loved the portrayal of the two protagonists. Arthur is convinced of George’s innocence and dedicates himself to his cause.  George is particularly… show more.

The novel that gets nearest to the essential nature of Arthur Conan Doyle; this is it. By the acclaimed author Julian Barnes, this book adopts a deceptively factual approach to the task of telling the story of how Conan Doyle sprang to the aid of George Edalji, the near-sighted son of an Indian-born vicar, who, in racially inspired attacks at the turn of the 20th century, had wrongly been accused of mutilating horses in the English Midlands village where he lived.

But beneath the biographical detail, a novelist is at work, teasing out correspondences between aspects of vision and the… show more.

This is a novel that flowed and engaged and made me think. An imagined and beautifully written retelling of historical events that actually took place.

I learned something new about the past and the private life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I also enjoyed it as a fine, page-turner of a read and an unfolding crime story. Like many of Julian Barnes’ books it works on multiple levels, which makes for a rewarding, as well as an entertaining, read. Ultimately, it was a book that made me want to read it.