The Ruby in Her Navel - Tapa blanda

The Court of King Roger in Twelfth century Sicily simmers with the volatile passions of Christians, Muslims, Jews, Latins and Greeks. Among them, a young Norman called Thurstan Beauchamp finds employment under Yusuf, a Muslim who holds the Christian king’s purse strings.

But while Thurstan wishes to be made a Knight, he has little taste for courtly intrigues and instead divides his time between the divine – in the shape of childhood sweetheart Lady Alicia – and the delightful: the sensuous and exotic dancer Nesrin.

However, in his pursuit of love and knighthood, Thurstan has yet to appreciate that he may also be a pawn in a far more deadly game ...

Barry Unsworth jointly won the 1992 Booker Prize with his novel Sacred Hunger. He was also shortlisted for the Booker prize on two further occaisions for Pascali's Island and Morality Play.

Originally from a mining village in Durham, he now lives in Italy. Barry Unsworth is currently the Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at John Moore's University in Liverpool.