ARTHUR & GEORGE

Truly gifted narrators can negotiate split-second shifts, not only from one character's Scottish burr to another's Indian inflection, not only from the hubris of one character to the naïveté of another, but also the emotional changes of one particular character, from, say, utter confidence one moment to deepest self-doubt the next. Nigel Anthony negotiates just these hairpin turns in Barnes's absorbing character study based on true events. The "Arthur" of the novel's title is Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, then at the height of his fame, who storms to the aid of George Edalji, an earnest solicitor and the son of an Indian-born vicar who is falsely accused of a dreadful crime. M.O. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 06]