Barry Unsworth (1930–2012)

A remarkable study of paranoia, supplication, and weakness--hardly the usual stuff of novels, especially historical ones. But Unsworth pulls off quite a feat here. His narrator, Basil Pascali, is a spy. Not your ordinary spy, though. He's an informant for the Ottoman Empire, stationed on a remote Greek island in 1908, when the Ottomans are in terminal decline. Nonetheless, he dutifully pens his observations to the Ottoman Emperor himself--the "Lord of the world" and "shadow of God on show more earth"--observations he can make because no one takes him seriously (he's described somewhat mockingly to his face as "one of the fixtures of the island"). Is the Ottoman Emperor himself reading any of this? Of course not. It's all terribly pathetic. But then, just as he becomes convinced his cover has been blown, a charming Englishman arrives and steals the heart of the woman he's been eyeing, setting off quite the dark game between the two.

This is a wonderful example of an unsympathetic unreliable narrator--a smarmy self-aggrandizing nobody who nonetheless grabs hold of your attention through his sheer need to tell his story, and his elegant mastery of prose and plot. show less

This is a sequel to Barry Unsworth's Sacred Hunger which I read (and enjoyed) many years ago, but it could be read as a stand-alone book without too much difficulty.

It is 1767. Erasmus Kemp, a wealthy Liverpool merchant, has tracked down the seamen who mutinied against the captain of his father's slave ship, and has brought them back to London to stand trial. He blames them for the financial ruin of his father and his subsequent death, and has vowed to see them all hang. And Erasmus Kemp is show more not a man easily swayed from his word... But one of the seaman, an Irish fiddler by the name of Sullivan, has already escaped his clutches, walking out of Newgate in a farcical case of mistaken identity. Sullivan makes his way north towards Durham having made his own vow, to tell the family of his friend Billy Blair of his death in the wilds of Florida during the seamen's recapture. And there are others who would thwart Erasmus Kemp's ambition: Frederick Ashton, a determined anti-slavery campaigner, is determined to show that the men acted reasonably in defying a captain who had ordered them to throw the sick and dying slaves overboard. Ashton pursues another court case as well, that of a former slave Jeremy Evans, who had run away from his former master once on British soil and who had been living quietly in Chelsea for three years until discovered, kidnapped and placed on a ship bound for Jamaica. With this case Ashton seeks to establish that slavery is not permitted on British soil, and by seeking to forcibly recapture Jeremy, his previous owner had been acting illegally.

Meanwhile, in the Durham mining village of Thorpe, James Borden, the brother-in-law of Billy Blair, makes his living as a miner together with his two eldest sons. Only the youngest son Percy, not quite seven years of age, is still able to spend his days in play. But his childhood will soon end, for at seven boys go down the pit. And when Erasmus Kemp develops a business interests in the profitable Durham coalfield, as well as a romantic interest in the sister of Frederick Ashton, the strands of the story all start to come together...

This is a great historical novel which puts its subject in context, and delivers complex and well-rounded characters. Definitely recommended, but read Sacred Hunger first, which is even better. show less

I picked this one up from the dollar bin at a Goodwill store in Connecticut, knowing nothing of the book or author. Evidently, Unsworth made his name writing historical fiction, and won a Booker Prize. I'm not much for historical fiction, alas, and Sugar and Rum is not. The back cover promised “a series of bizarre events” and “a plan that just may blow up in his face,” so, for a dollar, I decided to give it a go.

The narrator, Benson, has become blocked in the middle of a novel he is show more writing on the slave trade in Liverpool, so he wanders the streets of the city, alert to the portents of dissolution, nausea and dread—

’Block’ is a violent affliction…the great psychic disease of our time. It atrophies those parts that other diseases cannot reach…

A suicide lands on the sidewalk at his feet as he passes a quiet café. Back home, an owl flies into his room and settles on the armoire before Benson shoos it into a doorframe then tosses it out the window.

So I may have unleashed upon the world a concussed, demonic owl that will become a man-eater in due course. I may have disturbed the whole ecological balance. Who knows? We never see the whole shape of things.

Benson tries and fails to cultivate a new muse in Alma, but she is opposed to metaphor. He keeps himself connected to the creative life by tutoring aspiring writers, and his rumination on their work reveals Unsworth’s theme — the grit and woe and joy of living by one’s imagination. Unsworth the writer makes Benson’s bleak circumstances pungently comic, and the reader enjoys a provocative meditation on the myriad modes of inspiration. The dénouement — an audacious bit of ‘propaganda by deed’ carried out by Benson and his tutees in a scene worthy of Eric Ambler — felt strangely appropriate.

Turns out you can judge a book by its back cover. Sugar and Rum is a great read. show less

I haven’t read Unsworth in so many years that I had forgotten the sheer pleasure of his talent. Although it may not qualify as great literature, the writing here is impressive and Unsworth offers the willing reader more than a little food for thought in the course of providing a wonderfully engrossing murder mystery. The story takes place in 14th-century England and tells of a renegade priest who joins a traveling group of dramatic players. Unexpectedly short of money, they decide to show more prolong their stay in a town where the murder of a 12-year-old has just taken place and seems to have been “closed” unusually quickly. The players decide to create a new production based on the murder in the hope that local interest will create great attendance (and thus, great revenue). As they “research” the murder in order to make the play accurate, they discover far more than they expect. Many of the characters are stock figures but it is Unsworth’s achievement to not only create a vivid and riveting story but to do so well enough to force his readers to confront the deeper questions of any morality play. Unsworth uses an intentionally stilted (or mannered) English that is surprisingly successful in evoking the era and he also succeeds in creating a claustrophobic atmosphere that contributes greatly to both his story and the questions he poses. For those who are interested, he also teaches a great deal about the secrets and symbols of medieval theater and, in the process, submerges the reader in the small world of his characters. Definitely recommended and I will return to Unsworth sooner than I had anticipated for more such pleasure. show less