Born in 1930, his books include:
* Pascali’s Island, short-listed for the 1980 Booker Prize.
* Stone Virgin (1985).
* Sacred Hunger, joint winner of the 1992 Booker Prize.
* Morality Play, short-listed for the 1995 Booker Prize.
* Losing Nelson (1999).
* The Songs of the Kings (2002).
* The Ruby in Her Navel (2006).
The three novels I read were all historical set in different areas and eras and written in different style. Below is a short review of each one:
Morality Play, 1995, about fifty thousand words in sixteen chapters spanning 188 pages.
The narrator is a cleric who leaves the monastery where he works and joins a group of players (a theatre group) who have lost one of their own. The players, who are on their way to perform for some lord, stop in a town to get some money. When the standard morality play fails to attract the townspeople they decide to liven it up.
The play, now about a recent murder of a child, proves to be a great success. The players then try to find more about the murder; they discover a series of murders and a possible cover up that goes all the way up to the hart of the Lord’s castle.
A part of the novel is about the power of the press to investigate and expose the abuse of power, the players were outsiders but they gathered the threads of the story and then projected it to the whole town by performing it as a play.
Another part is about the growth of theatre from standard morality and bible based stories to a medium that reflects the times and lives of the audience. There was also a try at some psychological analysis about the obsession of the players’ leader with the accused woman, but it was really a plot device to justify why he risked everything to free her.
The novel is short, so there is no padding, but it is not an easy read; reflecting the poet-like character of the narrator. The history is really good: the low social position of the players and the way that starts to change foreshadowing the dizzy heights they will reach, plus the subtle change from feudal power governing the life of the people to a central state power taking over; this all subtly done without any expositions (impossible really since the narrator is a fourteenth century man).
The novel was short listed for the 1995 Booker Prize; I highly recommend it.
The Songs of the Kings, 2002, about ninety thousands words in five chapters spanning 245 pages.
The Greek host led by Agamemnon is marooned on Euboea due to contrary winds that persist in the face of the fleet. An attempt to ‘manufacture’ a favourable prophecy backfires and Agamemnon has to sacrifice his daughter Iphigeneia to appease the gods and change the winds.
The novel starts with the prophecy and ends with the sacrifice, between these two events we witness the games played by the powerful to shape the ideas of their followers, for example the bard Homer is pressured to sing favourable songs (hence the title).
The novel is divided into five main titled parts and each is made out of numbered sections. The story is told by following several characters, a priest, a bard, a counsellor to the king, etc. the story also follows Iphigeneia and her attempt to escape her grim fate.
This was a timely novel coming at a time when a nation was being marshalled into a pre-emptive attack on another nation by means very much similar to those used by the leaders of the Greek host.
One element that I like but some might not is the Newspeak and euphuisms used by some characters, some people might not like such anachronisms, but they are really there to make the point of the book.
This is my favourite Unsworth book and one of my favourite novels, it also reflects his own vision of what literature should be about (as shown in Morality Play). If someone wonders how a whole nation could be deceived into a war he should read this novel.
A must read (a basic knowledge of the Troy myth will be helpful).
The Ruby in Her Navel, 2006, about hundred and twenty thousands words in thirty chapters spanning 328 pages.
Thurstan is a young Norman clerk working in a chancery headed by a Muslim Arab in the court of King Roger of Sicily, at a time when the Arab-Islamic influence is ebbing and losing to a Christian flow determined to take control in the kingdom.
The plot follows Thurstan as he fulfils his duties and for the first third nothing really seems to happen, but then the intrigues intensifies and Thurstan must decide where his loyalties are.
This novel also reflects its times, coming out in a time when the relations between Muslims and Christians mirror those of the thirteenth century. Unlike its predecessor this one is equivocal, it reflects but doesn’t really expose anything significant. It is similar in showing the hidden intrigues of power, but it offers no insights.
This weakness in the novel is reflected in the main character himself. The main character (and the story is very much around him) lets himself be carried by the events giving up his loyalties for selfish reasons; his realistic weakness makes it hard to emphasis with him. He fails to control his destiny and at the end renounce his privileged life and with it any responsibility (or guilt).
If you don’t know anything about the Islamic influences on Sicily and southern Italy or you like a story of high intrigue then you must read this book.
