Arthur and George by Julian Barnes is a novel based on an actual series of historical events in which George Edalji, who has been falsely accused of mutilating animals, asks for the help of Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes novels, to clear his name of the false accusation.
George Ernest Thompson Edalji (March 1876 – 17 June 1953) was the son of Sharpurji Edalji, a man of Parsi descent from Bombay who converted to...
Arthur and George by Julian Barnes is a novel based on an actual series of historical events in which George Edalji, who has been falsely accused of mutilating animals, asks for the help of Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes novels, to clear his name of the false accusation.
George Ernest Thompson Edalji (March 1876 – 17 June 1953) was the son of Sharpurji Edalji, a man of Parsi descent from Bombay who converted to the Church of England, married the daughter of an Anglican priest, and was the Vicar of St Mark's, Great Wyrley. In this period, Indians were rarely found in rural English villages, and the family is subject to xenophobia and racism. In 1893, the family receives threats and hate mail, which cease after they fire a servant, and in 1903 the hate mail resumes and someone begins mutilating farm animals in the region. George, at this point a 27-year old lawyer, is convicted of the mutilations.
George requests that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, help him try to overturn the conviction. Doyle takes on the role of his own fictional creation and the conviction is overturned. Much of the story focuses on the character and ideas of Doyle himself, the process of investigation, and the relationship between the two men as both liminal characters (Doyle was actually Irish rather than English) in England.
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