The Liars' Gospel: A Novel - Softcover

Alderman, Naomi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316232793 ISBN 13: 9780316232791

Publisher: Back Bay Books, 2014

Synopsis

"A visceral retelling of the events surrounding the life of Jesus....The ferocity of Barabbas and Judas seizes the narrative and occupies its center ground."
--- Hilary Mantel

A year after the death of Yehoshuah, a mysterious figure who wandered Roman-occupied Judea giving sermons and healing the sick, four people tell their stories.

A mother, a friend, a collaborator, a rebel-to each of these witnesses the young preacher represents strikingly different things. But whether the witnesses are lying or telling the truth, their accounts will change all that comes after.

This is a story of sacrifice and betrayal, oppression and resistance, and the courage it takes to make both war and peace. THE LIARS' GOSPEL powerfully reimagines a tale we think we already know and invites us to see it in an entirely new light.

About this title

About the Author

Naomi Alderman is the author of Disobedience, which won the Orange Prize for New Writers and has been published in 10 languages. She contributes regularly to the Guardian and lives in London.

Review

"A visceral retelling of the events surrounding the life of Jesus....The ferocity of Barabbas and Judas seizes the narrative and occupies its center ground."
--- Hilary Mantel, author of Bringing Up the Bodies

"By turns poetic and visceral, The Liars' Gospel liberates towering figures from the stasis of iconography, giving them psychological depth."
---Abigail Meisel, New York Times Book Review

"Alderman solidly claims her place as a writer of bold imagination and abundant skill... She grafts new sinew and muscle to the bare bones of an ancient tale."
--National Public Radio

"A provocative and fascinating retelling of one of the foundational narratives of Western culture."
--- Julie Subrin, Tablet Magazine

"Head spinning perspectives on the life and times of Jesus, from a novelist who wields her pen like a sword."
--- More

"Exceptional....A deeply researched, empathically imagined, ferociously told exploration of the Jew known as Jesus."
---Michael Goldfarb, Jewish Daily Forward

"Vibrant descriptions....haunting prose.... Alderman transforms an ancient story into her own engaging meditation on power, oppression, and belief."
--- Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

"Alderman re-creates with startling immediacy the culture of first-century Judea, with its political intrigue and riots, and with its characters wondering at what the life of Yehoshuah has meant to them."
--- Kirkus

"Superb....The best-known story of all takes on messy, intricate, surging new life when freed from its biblical shackles in Naomi Alderman's reimagining."
--- Victoria Moore, Daily Mail

"Courageous....Alderman's revision of the Christ figure is a visceral, intelligent one, and it works superbly."
--- Arifa Akbar, The Independent

About this edition

• Publisher: Back Bay Books
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0316232793
• ISBN 13: 9780316232791
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336