An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears

These range from the obese and greedy Earl of Clarendon, prime minister to the restored monarch, Charles II, to the Oxford apothecary who was Most of Pears' dozen or so main characters are imagined versions of historical figures. History of England after the death of Oliver Cromwell to fashion a believable portrait of 17th-century political and intellectual life as well as a whodunit of almost mesmerizing complexity. The author, a British journalist and the author of six previous detective stories, brilliantly exploits the stormy, conspiracy-heavy Of whom has only a partial understanding of events and only one of whom makes telling the truth his primary purpose.įour rather long excursions into the same basic tale could grow wearisome, but Pears' effort never does. 'An Instance of the Fingerpost' is told 'Rashomon' style, by four different narrators, each

Like Eco's story of nefarious doings at a 14th-century Italian monastery, Pears' novel is a compendious historical pageant set among 17th-century clergymen, scholars and politicians concerned with the natural and the supernaturalĪ murder is at the center of the story, or, more accurately, the several stories of Pears' massive but unflagging book. Read the First Chapter of 'An Instance of the Fingerpost'į you liked Umberto Eco's 'Name of the Rose,' you should run to buy Iain Pears' lavishly erudite historical mystery 'An Instance of the Fingerpost.'.Instance of the Fingerpost,' New York Times Book Review, March 22, 1998 'An Instance Of The Fingerpost': Many Voices Tell An Intricate Tale

An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears