With his brilliant novel, Songs of the Kings, Unsworth moved into one of my three favorite contemporary writers. He has an eye for period detail in his historical novels, but his strength is the subtle context that comments vividly on 21st-century events.

For example, Songs of the Kings, when it appeared in 2003, used Odysseus to demonstrate the madness of kings, and the relative ease with which they use saga to lead individuals to their doom. Three months after its release, the Iraq War began.

In The Ruby in her Navel, Unsworth brings to life a multi-cultural, multi-religious Sicily. It is one of the great European kingdoms, but there is trouble brewing. The utter failure of the 2nd Crusade has raised suspicions against Palermo's muslim population. Latin Lombards are moving in to challenge the Norman elite. The Byzantine Empire has Sicily in its sights, too.

It makes for a lousy time for Thurstan Beauchamp to fall in love. Seeking advancement--a possible knighthood--for himself as well as his Saracen patron: his naievete about the church and the king is put to the test. When his loyalty to king isn't tested, his loyalty to two ladies is.

For the last 250 pages, I just couldn't put this book down. I enjoyed it better than Unsworth's Booker-winning Sacred Hunger--almost as well as SOTK.