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Arthur and George

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Arthur and George

By: Julian Barnes
Narrated by: Nigel Anthony
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About this listen

 Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, 2005.
A Richard and Judy Book Club Selection.

This novel is based on Arthur Conan Doyle's extraordinary real-life fight for justice. Arthur and George grow up worlds and miles apart in late nineteenth-century Britain: Arthur in shabby-genteel Edinburgh, George in the vicarage of a small Staffordshire village. Arthur becomes a doctor, and then a writer; George a solicitor in Birmingham. Arthur is to become one of the most famous men of his age, George remains in hardworking obscurity. But as the new century begins, they are brought together by a sequence of events which made sensational headlines at the time as The Great Wyrley Outrages.

George Edjali's father is Indian, his mother Scottish. When the family begins to receive vicious anonymous letters, many about their son, they put it down to racial prejudice. They appeal to the police, to no less than the Chief Constable, but to their dismay he appears to suspect George of being the letters' author. Then someone starts slashing horses and livestock. Again the police seem to suspect the shy, aloof Birmingham solicitor. He is arrested and, on the flimsiest evidence, sent to trial, found guilty and sentenced to seven years' hard labour.

Arthur Conan Doyle, famous as the creator of the world's greatest detective, is mourning his first wife (having been chastely in love for ten years with the woman who was to become his second) when he hears about the Edjali case. Incensed at this obvious miscarriage of justice, he is galvanised into trying to clear George's name. With a mixture of detailed research and vivid imagination, Julian Barnes brings to life not just this long-forgotten case, but the inner lives of these two very different men.

©2006 Julian Barnes (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Detective

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Critic reviews

"Barnes sidelines his immense cleverness to pursue a more conventional but sweepingly ambitious whodunit. He transforms an obscure historical footnote...into a mesmerizing investigation of the Anglo-Saxon character." ( Atlantic Monthly)
“Extraordinary.... First rate.... A cracking good yarn.” ( The New York Times Book)
“An absorbing fictional re-creation of a real-life detective story. . . . A finely evocative historical novel as well as a morally and psychologically astute glimpse into the worlds of two men.” ( Los Angeles Times Book Review)
All stars
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When the audio first started, I wasn’t quite sure what was going on. The narrative switches between Arthur and George from their birth and the listener ( or reader) knows that these two central characters are from a different background. But who are they and what’s their connection.

As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Arthur is to become a famous author. George is from a mixed race background in the heart of the Black Country. So how do they connect? You’ll need to read the book or listen to the Audible version to find out, but I found this to be a wonderful journey of discovery as the layers unfold. Sine finishing the book, I find it’s based on real events and with that in mind, it’s a lively and compassionate account of a great misjustice. Really enjoyed this novella which packs a lot into a sjphort time.

Convincing reimagination of a real event

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Fascinating research made an astonishing story which enthralled. An in-depth look into the British legal system shows how little attitudes change over centuries. Ignited my interest in Sherlock Holmes mystery books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The story lends itself to adaptation too. I saw the play at the Birmingham Rep. a few years ago.

Love this book by Julian Barnes.

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It only gets 4* overall because it is abridged. A good performance - it's difficult to pull off middle-class Edinburgh voices without sounding music hall comic, and the local Birmingham/Staffordshire accents sound snide and sinister, as their contributions to the tale would merit.
It is indeed a very English Dreyfus Affair, though fortunately Edalji "only" suffers 3 years hard labour, not solitary confinement on Devil's Island!!

Well written, intriguing story.

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