Julian Barnes "Arthur and George"

Julian Barnes novel "Arthur and George" recreates the events surrounding the The Great Wyrley Outrages that caused a stir in papers all over England at the turn of the twentieth century. The book alternates between the narratives of the two protagonists, named in the title. Arthur--being none other than the late great Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, dabbler in the occult, and champion of just causes. George--being one George Edalji, a solicitor who works in Birmingham but lives in Wyrley at his father's vicarage.

Shapurji Edalji, George's father, is a converted parsee, originally from Bombay, who has married a woman of Scottish extraction and produced three children of mixed blood, all of whom he has brought up to be totally and completely "English".

The conflict starts when the Edalji family receives a series of anonymous, threatening letters. The police are no help in this regard, suspecting young George to be the perpetrator. The letters stop for a period of around seven years and then start up again to coincide with a pattern of animals mutilations in the area. The police once again suspect George. He is accused, tried and sentenced by his peers to seven years imprisonment. This, needless to say, is quite a blow to young George, a shy, nervous sort, with poor eyesight who is quite unlikely to have committed the crimes, considering his complete lack of knowledge about animal-handling, let alone mutilation.

This is where Arthur Conan Doyle steps in. Still mourning the loss of his first wife Touie, Arthur sees the case as a possible distraction from his own feelings of guilt (he has secretly kept a mistress, Miss Jean Leckie for close to thirteen years while his wife has been an invalid, slowly dying of consumption). He uses the deductive reasoning that has made his creation Sherlock Holmes famous around the world, and concludes that George is innocent. But knowing George is innocent is one thing. Proving it to a police force motivated by strong racial prejudices is quite another.

The book is a gripping read, especially the courtroom scenes. Being a half-parsee myself I commiserated especially with poor George, and shared Arthur's sense of outrage at the gross miscarriage of justice. But the book is about a lot more. It has contemporary echoes--the prejudice that now exists towards people of middle-eastern extraction around the world, the detainments and arrests that are made, rightfully or wrongfully in the name of the war on terror. It's a book about innocence and guilt, about belief, about the uncertain and sometimes untenable nature of the truth. I highly recommend it.