The Ruby in Her Navel: A Novel of Love and Intrigue in the 12th Century
Language: English
Published by Nan A. Talese, 2006
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: World of Books Inc, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.World of Books Inc
AbeBooks seller since March 23, 2026
Condition: Used - Good
£ 6.22
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Add to basketItem description from seller
In twelfth-century Norman Sicily, King Roger presides over Palermo in the aftermath of the Second Crusade. For the time being, Latins and Greeks, Arabs and Jews are living together in uneasy harmony. Within this milieu, young Thurstan Beauchamp serves faithfully as a civil servant of the king, his daily environment filled with tiny accountings, schemes, machinations, and bribes. When he is dispatched to investigate a conspiracy against the king, he will find his loyalties tested--and, when he encounters both his childhood sweetheart and a seductive dancer, his heart torn. An extraordinary tale of ambition, politics, and the loss of innocence, set against the glittering backdrop of medieval Europe, The Ruby in Her Navel powerfully traces the clash of civilizations from its historical origins, with deep resonances for today.
Seller Inventory # CIN0385509634G
- Title
- The Ruby in Her Navel: A Novel of Love and Intrigue in the 12th Century
- Author
- Barry Unsworth
- Publisher
- Nan A. Talese
- Publication year
- 2006
- Condition
- Good
- Binding
- Hardback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0385509634
- ISBN 13
- 9780385509633
Set in the Middle Ages during the brief yet glittering rule of the Norman kings, The Ruby in Her Navel is a tale in which the conflicts of the past portend the present. The novel opens in Palermo, in which Latin and Greek, Arab and Jew live together in precarious harmony. Thurstan Beauchamp, the Christian son of a Norman knight, works for Yusuf, a Muslim Arab, in the palace’s central finance office, a job which includes the management of blackmail and bribes, and the gathering of secret information for the king.
But the peace and prosperity of the kingdom is being threatened, internally as well as externally. Known for his loyalty but divided between the ideals of chivalry and the harsh political realities of his tumultuous times, Thurstan is dispatched to uncover the conspiracies brewing against his king. During his journeys, he encounters the woman he loved as a youth; and the renewed promise of her love, as well as the mysterious presence of an itinerant dancing girl, sends him on a spiritual odyssey that forces him to question the nature of his ambition and the folly of uncritical reverence for authority.
With the exquisite prose and masterful narrative drive that have earned him widespread acclaim, Barry Unsworth transports the reader to a distant past filled with deception and mystery, and whose racial, tribal, and religious tensions are still with us today.
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About the Author
BARRY UNSWORTH won the Booker Prize for his novel Sacred Hunger, and is also the author of The Songs of the Kings, Losing Nelson, After Hannibal, and the international bestseller Morality Play. He lives in Italy.
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
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AbeBooks seller since March 23, 2026
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