Anglo-Saxon Attitudes Author:Angus Wilson It's 1954, and Gerard Middleton is a 60-year-old self-proclaimed failure. Worse than that, he's a "a failure with a conscience." As a young man, he was involved in an archaeological dig that turned up a heathen idol in the coffin of a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon bishop, thereby scandalizing a generation. Now, Middleton must confront his estrange... more »d children, his alcoholic former mistress, and a nagging sense of failure in order to expose the greatest archaeological hoax of the century. Built around a set of interwoven subplots involving Middleton's children - John is a gay, incendiary radio host, whose secretary is the mistress of his brother Robin, a successful businessman - Anglo-Saxon Attitudes includes a dizzying cast of minor characters linked by blood and coincidence.« less
This novel has been reprinted by New York Times Review Books, so can be called a classic of British fiction. The setting is academia, the protagonist and professor of medieval history who has participated in a famous fraud.