Steven Wu's Book Reviews: An Instance of the Fingerpost (Iain Pears)

To enjoy Iain Pears's stunning An Instance of the Fingerpost, it helps to know that the book is in fact a combination of four different narratives, each of them covering roughly the same events from the points of view of wholly unreliable narrators. I only mention this because to the unprepared reader, the first narrative might seem too swift, too tame, and too inconsequential to sustain a 700-page novel. But the seeming incompetence of the book's first quarter quickly gives way to an absorbing and moving story, perhaps the best that I have read this year.

Set in 1660s England, An Instance of the Fingerpost primarily concerns the mysterious murder of an Oxford fellow who was poisoned in his room. A young servant girl, Sarah Blundy, is quickly implicated in the offense. Is she guilty? Everybody certainly thinks so, especially when Sarah refuses to defend herself. A trial is set, and the town buzzes in anticipation of a burning. (That's what they did to felonious females in those barbaric times.)

And that's all I'm going to say about the plot. I strongly urge you not to read anything more about this book before sitting down to read it. Part of the joy of reading An Instance is discovering who is going to narrate the next quarter, and what specific events he is going to cover. The increasingly unreliable narrators inspire horror, contempt, and affection (mostly in that order); so do the events that they describe. And what might at first seem like an invitation to redundancy--four narratives on the same events?--quickly becomes a sterling example of how different points of view can warp recollections to such an extent that only the sketchiest outlines of the four narratives bear any similarity.

An Instance of the Fingerpost is, to some extent, a murder mystery, and like every good mystery it wraps up almost all of its loose ends. But the book covers a great deal more than the investigation of the Oxford fellow's death, including politics, espionage, international relations, academic infighting, religious devotion, and love. The last quarter of the novel, told by the most sympathetic narrator, absolutely floored me, and ended with a moment of revelation that instantly elevated this book to one of my favorites. I know that not everybody who reads this book will feel the same way. But even if you don't, An Instance of the Fingerpost remains an intricate, enthralling, and well written masterpiece.