A few weeks ago, I stopped in to Borders to redeem a $25 gift certificate. I went to the “Buy Two Get One Free” table and began picking through the books looking for three interesting, compelling works of literature that would keep me occupied when I had a chance to finally read them. Over this last week, I’ve been reading one of those books every time I had an opportunity to get through a few pages at a time. When I picked it up and saw the title and the description, I really didn’t realize that the titular “Arthur” was the famed creator of the Sherlock Holmes character.

Arthur and George is the story of what happens when an author best known for his unfallable detective character decides to cast himself as his own Holmes in the case of George Edjali, a solicitor (that’s English for “lawyer”) of Parsi heritage who became the victim of a campaign of harrassment and a conviction for crimes he did not commit.

Julian Barnes‘ “George and Arthur” isn’t exactly fiction, but it isn’t entirely a history either. I don’t quite know where it comes down between the two, but it’s a fascinating read and an amazing work of storytelling. Need an idea for the next time you go to the library or The Book Thing? This one’s for you.