The Ruby in Her Navel

by Barry Unsworth (© 2006, Nan A. Talese, ISBN:0385509634)

Booker Prize list winner for the second time, Barry Unsworth, has written a book set in twelfth-century Sicily against the backdrop of the Crusades.  Thurstan Beauchamp is a young Norman in the court of King Roger in Palermo.  Thurstan, who desires to fulfill his lifelong ambition of knighthood and all that would mean financially, politically, and spiritually to a young man of his background, finds himself thrust into a plot of intrigue and treachery that tests his Christian faith on every level of meaning.   

Thurstan believes that being a Christian does not automatically exclude the choice to work amicably in a court where King Roger has employed both Christians and the Muslims, who formerly had held Sicily in conquest. His work relationship with Yusuf Ibn Mansur, a Muslim who is his direct superior in the Diwan of Control, oscillates between being advised and mentored in fiscal politics and being twitted about his vanity in fashionable male attire.  Thurstan is not entirely comfortable trusting Yusuf’s benevolence.   

Thurstan is also caught between his lustful enchantment with a young woman from far beyond the kingdom of Sicily who dances with the ruby in her navel and attracts attention from every man who sees her dance, and his youthful love and admiration for the Lady Alicia whose path was separated from his own when his father’s fortune was lost to him in his bid for knighthood.  But the Lady Alicia comes back into his life as a young widow fresh from the Holy Wars in Jerusalem.  She dazzles him with the prospect of regaining all the status and power and fortune that has been denied him up to this point and does it with promises of love and devotion.   

Thurstan is now thoroughly caught upon the horns of a dilemma. His earthy nature, as revealed in his lust for the dancer, is pulling him in one direction and his idealized reverence for the knight’s widow and also for King Roger, is pulling him another.  He is drawn into a deep and devious plot to overthrow the King and his blindness to his own human desires allows him to be used as both a victim and a co-conspirator. When he finally comprehends the players and the plots, he doubts himself on every level of his being.  This story is not a novel of love triumphing over all. This is the story of the deep political consequences when religion is the trump card to play on the world’s chess board.  Thurstan is challenged to accept that, as in chess, there is no good; there is no bad………there is only winning.    

This book challenges the reader, whether from a background that is Christian or Muslim, to wonder how God must view our struggles and vanities and our evil desires all acted out in His name.  At the very least, each reader might examine himself for beliefs that motivate his actions that may not have basis in Scriptural morality.  As Thurstan tells us on the opening page, “[the past and the future] are hinged together like a door that swings, and that swinging is the present moment.”  The book moves at an exciting and involving pace that contributes to the reader’s enjoyment.  The book is timely both in topic and style for today’s reader.  (some sexual content)

By Rose Marie Smith

Winner on the Booker Prize longlist for 2006  Wikipedia: Booker Prize

The 2006 Longlist