Arthur and George

Another book that I read on holiday. This is a historical fiction novel that follows the lives of Arthur Conan Doyle, famous author of the Sherlock Holmes series and his dabble into real-life detective work following the case of George Edjali. George is a solicitor in Birmingham, born to an Indian father and Scottish mother. Following multiple animal mutilations in and around his neighbourhood and a spate of vicious anonymous letters, George finds himself in the middle of a police investigation that eventually finds him guilty and lands him with a prison sentence for 7 years hard labour based on very thin circumstantial evidence. This case captured the nations' imagination, including the attention of Arthur Conan Doyle, who picks up the case and campaigns for the clearing of George's name.

I found this novel to be an interesting read, from the viewpoint that this was the first case that lead to the introduction of an appeal process. Some of the scenes seemed to be carefully thought out and put together, based on the research done on newspapers, personal letters etc, but some of the linking scenes written to link the lives of George and Arther seemed to me to be strained. A particularly interesting side of the novel was when the author touched on the prejudices surrounding the mixed-race George, and George's own reluctance to think that his racial background had any baring on the case. Another very interesting aspect was the exploration of Arthur's interest in spiritualism, a very fashionable hobby or passtime for the rich at the time, and touched upon throughout the novel. All in all, this was an interesting read, but probably not a novel that I would necessarily pick up again.