Exactly, my dear Watson ...

Arthur & George

Julian Barnes

Vintage Canada

With the advent of the gift card, most of my friends have stopped giving me books for Christmas. While I appreciate their thoughtfulness and generosity, I have to admit to missing the thrill of reading something that has been selected for me by someone else. Happily, my best friend isn't afraid to buy me books (he's mastered the concept of the gift receipt) and so far, this year's picks have been top shelf.

Arthur & George, by British novelist Julian Barnes, is an extraordinarily well-crafted piece of historical fiction that tells the story of two Edwardian gentlemen -- one, a world-famous writer, and the other, a quiet, hard-working solicitor of mixed Indian/Scottish descent. Their worlds intersect when George (the solicitor) is wrongly convicted of a heinous crime and spends three years in an English gaol. George receives an early release, but no pardon, so he writes to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and requests the writer's assistance in pursuing justice.

Barnes uses the factual details from both the Edalji case and Doyle's own life to weave a compelling narrative that sweeps the reader back to turn-of-the-century England. When Doyle investigates and eventually shames the Home Office into granting the pardon, George is pleased yet unsatisfied. He wryly notes that he thinks Doyle "too influenced by his own creation." Doyle, on the other hand, is amazed by George's Tory snobbery and reluctance to admit that racism was the true cause of his wrongful imprisonment.

Arthur & George is wonderful novel. Not just because it provides a portrait of an age, but because it transcends time and deals with themes of love, honour, guilt, privilege, duty, race and class. Barnes is a masterful, witty storyteller and in this novel, it seems to me that he invokes the true spirit of Miss Austen. Already I can guarantee you that Arthur & George will be in the running for the d-e-s book of the year. A very beautiful five Janes out of five.