An Instance of the Fingerpost

A Novel

Paperback, 704 pages

English language

Published April 10, 2000 by Riverhead Trade.

ISBN:
978-1-57322-795-7
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
44415525

View on OpenLibrary

(15 reviews)

This book is set in the 1660's, and tells the story of Sarah Blundy who is accused of murder. The story is told from four different perspectives, and as you read each one you learn so much more about the events, and there is a huge plot twist at the end!

8 editions

Glad I persisted

Set during the Restoration, like Andrew Taylor's Marwood and Lovett series, which I enjoyed, and in Oxford, which I know, I still struggled to get into it at first. There are many references to real historical characters, but the Unreliable narrator technique made it hard like or identify with the main characters. It did come together in an interesting way at the end, and had broadened my knowledge of the period some of the notable people who appear in itl

None

This is a mixture of a historical novel and a whodunit, set in Restoration Englisn.

I've read a number of books about the period recently -- Samuel Pepys's diary (the concise version), a history of the Restoration by Ronald Hutton, and an account of the great fire of London.

This one is set in Oxford, and several of the characters are real historical personages. It is rather unusual in that the same set of events is described from the point of view of four different people, and are seen very differently, depending on the roles and interests of the characters concerned.

One thing that stood out for me was the attitude of most of these characters towards servants, and their emphasis on class, or as the book describes it, "station". Those of higher station seem to have had the same attitude towards the lower orders as white Rhodesians had towards …

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Subjects

  • Mystery & Detective - Historical
  • Mystery/Suspense
  • History
  • Fiction - Mystery/ Detective
  • Fiction
  • Mystery fiction
  • Mystery & Detective - Traditional British
  • Mystery & Detective - General
  • Fiction / General
  • General
  • 1603-1714, Stuarts
  • Charles II, 1660-1685
  • Great Britain

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