Last night I finally finished the book that’s been occupying me for the past few weeks: An Instance of the Fingerpost, by Iain Pears. I have mixed feelings about it; on the one hand, I’m really happy to have found a “historical novel” that wasn’t painfully bad (that was, in fact, quite good), but on the other hand, the book didn’t enthrall me the way I had hoped it would.

I was wary when I started reading: the quotes by Francis Bacon, the occasional phrases in Latin, and the fact that the book is narrated by people looking back to the events that took place years before made me wonder if all the references to The Name of the Rose that pop up on the cover of the book (“If you like The Name of the Rose…” etc.etc.) were a bit too accurate, and if Iain Pears was really trying to take a page out of Eco’s book, so to speak. But Pears proved himself to me. He’s written an extremely intelligent, literate, well-researched book that keeps you guessing to the end.

The story takes place in the latter part of the 17th century. Pears’s characters are, for the most part, historical figures, and the events in the book are, for the most part, based on actual historical events (be sure to look in the back of the book while reading - there is a brief timeline and a list of the dramatis personae which is quite helpful and interesting if you don’t already recognize all the historical names and events that are mentioned).

Pears does an excellent job of recreating the 17th century and keeping his narrative firmly ensconced in that era. There is nothing in the book that jars one out of the 1660’s. The characters’ speech, behavior and ideas are all believable and consistent with the time period (not an easy task - check out a Ken Follett novel to see how someone fails miserably at doing this). The 17th century is a period of history I’m not particularly familiar with, so I actually feel like I learned something useful from this book. Not that I’m taking my history lessons from popular novels - but you can glean bits of information from interesting places.

The story itself is very good. The structure of the book is interesting: the four sections are narrated by four different people, each confirming or refuting the claims of the others. With each new narrator, the characters that have been introduced by the previous narrators and the incidents that have taken place all take on completely new aspects. Nothing is what it seems at first glance.

It’s a mystery novel, and it does manage to keep you guessing, but the book just didn’t capture me until the very last narrator took over. I don’t know why it didn’t capture me; perhaps because the 17th century is also a period of time I’m not terrifically interested in, and the one character who really intrigued me - Sarah Blundy, the woman who is considered something of a witch and who is sentenced to death (I’m not giving anything away here) - doesn’t really come into her own until the last section of the book.

I have to say, though, that when she does come into her own, it’s a shocker. I think it is worth reading the book just for the completely unforseeable, absolutely bizarre and still somehow plausible twist that takes place in the last few pages. It was this that kept me up till 4:30 this morning reading the book - and I guess any book that can do that is a success.

I think I was just expecting too much from An Instance of the Fingerpost. I had hoped that it would amaze me, but I only found it good and not great - but that’s not a tragedy. I will probably read the book again sometime down the road. I think it will be interesting to read it knowing what’s really going on. The shock of the ending will be gone, but other aspects of the book may reveal themselves, and in any case, even re-reading a book that is so intelligently written is time well-spent.

I recommend the book - even if you didn’t like The Name of the Rose.