Arthur & George by Julian Barnes

This is a good book - but quite different for anything I've read lately. It is, in turns, a history, a mystery, a romance, and a tragedy. Mostly it is just a good read.

The story follows, simultaneously, the lives of two men living in late 19th century England. For almost the entire book the two men have no interaction and don't, personally, know each other at all. The Arthur of the book's title is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - of Sherlock Holmes fame. The George is a person mostly overlooked by history. The two men are great character foils, which only serves to enhance the narrative style of the book; consecutive chapters (mainly) alternated points of view between the title characters.

The book is more of a character study than anything else. The plot is comprised (for what I can tell) purely historical record and, honestly, is a little dry in places. The two title characters more than make up for any down fall on the plots part. And Barnes is a terrific writer. I was total engrosed with how the characters dealt with the paths of each of their lives, and found the book hard to put down.

The novel was short-listed for last year's Booker Prize, which is what initially drew my attention. The connection to Sherlock Holmes, a literary favorite of mine, helped me maintain interest. And now that I'm in England, it seemed foolish to put off reading this book any longer. I'm glad I got around to it, but the wait wasn't that bad.