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The Ruby in Her Navel

barry unsworth

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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.

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1,2006
Literary awards
booker prize, 

This edition

Format
416 pages, Hardcover
Published
October 17, 2006 by Nan A. Talese
ISBN
9780385509633
ASIN
0385509634
Language
English

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barry unsworth

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Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
39(39%)
4 stars
33(33%)
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28(28%)
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100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
TAMNI-GT
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Love this author

I started with Sacred Hunger because I look for Booker prize winners of finalists. Loved that one. This one is such an interesting time in history or people kind of getting along in a multicultural space and in the 12th century! Why can we still not get along? Anyway, a great read. He's a really good writer and that makes all the difference. Highly recommend Mr. Unsworth's books.
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MasterWarlord
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Unsworth draws me in like no other writer in his genre. His narrator isn't himself unreliable, but his ego wreaks havoc on everyone, not least himself. And you can count on Unsworth to make you feel just how heartbreaking betrayal is.
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MerlinHermes-41
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Jde o dobu prvních křížových výprav, což mě zajímalo, a o Sicilském království jsem toho také moc nevěděl.
Příběh vypráví mladý sekretář královského vezíra. Je to syn šlechtice, který veškerý svůj majetek odevzdal klášteru. Vlastně tak připravil svého syna o příjmy, pozemky i rytířskou budoucnost.
A mladý Thurstan chce být rytířem víc, než cokoliv jiného. Je to trochu až naivní donquijotovská postava, která touží po lásce krásných panen, boji proti nevěřícím atd. Sicilský král je pro něj bohem na zemi, čest své vyvolené je připravený bránit proti celému světu atd.
Jeho touhy a naivitu ale využijí spiklenci k tomu, aby jednak zásadně omezili vliv muslimských rádců sicilského krále Rogera, jednak zavraždili samotného krále.
Kniha je to docela zajímavá, na takového Cornwella a podobně ale nemá, místy je vyprávění zdlouhavé, o historickém pozadí se také až tak moc nedozvíte.
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MP_001
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Set in 11th century Sicily, the main character is Thurston, the Purveyor of Pleasures (basically entertainment director) and purse bearer to King Roger. The setting is shortly after the failure of the Crusades, and the King seeks to keep 'balance' between his Muslim subjects and his Christian subjects. There are intrigues and conspiracies surrounding the palace, and Thurston finds himself in the thick of things. He alternately pines for Alicia, who was a childhood friend but now an object of affection, and Nesrin, a gypsy belly dancer he is drawn to. Lots of politics, lots of characters coming in and out of the plot, but still I was able to keep most of it straight and enjoy the book. It did spark an interest in learning more about the Crusades, however.
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Matsuma_
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I have just discovered Barry Unsworth recently and I am so glad I did. His books are beautifully written stories that capture a particular historical moment: Morality Play in medieval England; The Ruby in her Navel in 12th century Sicily; Sacred Hunger, about the slave trade in 17th century England (in my "to read" list). The Ruby in her Navel tells the story of Thurstan, a naive Norman young man who wanted to be a knight, but has his ambitions thwarted by his father's surprising (to him) decision to join a monastery. The book has enough intrigue, deception, love story to keep you entertained from page 1 to the very last word.
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SeaTactics
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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An unusual story, in that it's hero is rather naive, vain and doesn't see what's really in front of him, but only what he wants to see.

Thurstan wanted to be a knight but his hopes were dashed, so now he's a civil servant trying to do his best for a King he glorifies without reason. A King whom others are working against, and whom Thurstan's blundering could easily undermine. Thurstan finds his childhood love, only to have the promise of her taken away again by religious scheming and intriguing.

The first chapters could easily have had me leaving the book unfinished, as they were packed with too much detail, and Thurstan isn't initially a very empathetic character, as he is rather naive and blinded by his own desires, but the intrigue grows on you, and in the end it was an enjoyable novel, even if the foreshadowing is easy at times to see through as it isn't too subtle to begin a book with what will be it's ending.
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Dietrologia
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I really enjoyed this -- set in 1120 (or thereabouts, I forget the date), Ruby in Her Navel was full of court intrigue, historical background, and gorgeous writing. Also, plenty of foppish clothing details from our narrator, Thurstan, who works in the court of the Sicilian King. Thurstan, while bright enough and full of high ideals, is also terribly vain, naive, and short-tempered. We can see from the outset that these characteristics are going to cause big trouble for him -- and indeed they do. The scheming and plotting are fun, but what I really enjoyed about the book was Unsworth's beautiful, evocative writing, which brought the time and place vividly to life for me. I'll remember the castle with the giant revolving bronze mirrors, the poor trapped herons Thurstan procurs(bought to be killed by the king's falcons), and of course the lady of the title -- even if I had trouble keeping straight who was trying to trick whom into doing what.
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Ayjh
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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A rare Could-Not-Finish. The characters and the plot were promising, but the writing was just so boring.

One boring star.
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