Richie is 33, a talented scholar but living a life of mediocrity, in an unhappy relationship and with no visible means of support. His father was sent down from Oxford and lived a life of hippy abandonment on drugs until his death. Then things start to move for Richie. He undertakes a thesis with a grant from his old college which is based on Crusader Art, he journeys to the Middle East and starts to follow a trail related to King Richard's lost treasure, the True Cross.

So far so good. This is an interesting book as on the face of it the story is preposterous, Richie has no visible means of support yet can travel at the drop of a hat, he is in an unsatisfactory relationship but once that ends he is incredibly attractive to every woman he meets and academically the papers he needs suddenly appear as if by magic. However despite the fact that the plot is ridiculous, the writing is excellent and the reader really gets drawn in the story. Despite myself I really enjoyed this book. ( )

Interesting mashup of literary mystery, history, and love story but the ending felt very implausible to me. If you create a not wholly reliable narrator, you need to stick with it. At least in my opinion. ( )

All the characters in this book are personable, making this a pleasant read. This is a light double story: The story of Richie, namesake of Richard the Lionheart, finding his place in the world and finding the Lionheart's True Cross with fortuitous historical detection; Part of the story of Richard the Lionheart and how he might have acquired the True Cross from Saladin during the Crusade and what happened to Richard and the the True Cross then. Both are good and unchallenging stories in this book. ( )

Justin Cartwright's newest novel Lion Heart is a pleasure to read. Gracious, urbane, and clever, it reads like a tasteful Dan Brown intrigue, its bravura genuine and not the special-effects variety. The sympathetic, skillfully-drawn contemporary character, Richie, seeks his namesake, Richard Coeur de Lion, King of England, by delving into the heart of the 12th century, through reading, travel, and conversations with an array of intriguing friends. As he travels, he seeks meaning in his own life through a succession of interesting female partners. The book is subtle, deep, and smart, reminding me of Robert Hellenga's immensely popular novel, Sixteen Pleasures. Both authors deserve Laurence Sterne's praise: "What a large volume of adventures may be grasped within the span of his little life by him who interests his heart in everything." Just as Sixteen Pleasures made me a fan of Hellenga, Lion Heart has set me on a quest to read all of Justin Cartwright's novels. ( )

I have a bit of a problem with novels that feature lengthy sections in italics. With this one, it was not initially clear to me whether the italicised sections were taken from the writings of the narrator or his father. I initially concluded it was the latter, and was quite some way through before I realised it was probably the son. Perhaps there was some of each? Perhaps the lack of clarity on this was intentional? Or perhaps I just wasn't concentrating closely enough? Once I had figured out who was speaking - even if wrongly - I settled in to an enjoyable read.

The narrator Richie regards himself as being very different from his drug addled hippy dad, though I thought they had more in common than Richie would admit, not least in that their love for the world or for other people seems to be a very self-centred kind of love. I think I liked Richie less and less as the book went on, but not so intensely as to make me lose interest.

I do not know enough about Richard I to be aware just how much Cartwright has deviated from known historical fact in the medieval sections of this novel. I seem to keep changing my opinion about the use of real people in fiction. Ultimately, I guess it is not the job of the novelist to act as historian, though I do think I prefer the inclusion of an end note to highlight the main deviations from fact - something which is not included here.

One deviation from fact I did spot relates not to Richard I but Richard II. The recent discovery of Richard II's remains under a car park in Leicester is alluded to, but Cartwright changes the owners of car park, saying it belonged to a supermarket when in fact it provided parking for some council offices. Did he simply get this detail wrong, I wonder, or did he change it because he felt "supermarket" rather than "council" would be more easily understood by international readers?

The 'past' and 'present' sections are not as closely tied together as is sometimes the case in dual-period novels. The reader is to a large extent left to reach his or her own conclusion about the parallels between the two and what each might suggest about the relations between the western world and the Middle East. Some of the other reader reviews I have read seem to suggest that different readers have reached very different conclusions about Cartwright's intended message. Some of them leave me wondering if my own reading was a bit superficial, leading me to miss the point; whereas others seem to suggest it is the book that is superficial and should not be taken seriously. What I would say is that the present day sections seem to linger more strongly in my memory. I think that is where the emphasis of this novel lies and, as such, those encouraged by the title to expect a historical novel that is primarily about Richard the Lion Heart may well be disappointed.

(This review was also posted on GoodReads.com) ( )