The Fire Gospel
A pacy book-world satire. Naomi West, Harper’s Bazaar
A majestic, horrific thriller of a story. The Times
A really enjoyable piece of work. Simon Appleby, bookgeeks.co.uk
… it’s definitely proof that one of our most entertaining and original authors has risen again. The List
Theo Griepenkerl is a modest academic with an Olympian ego. When he visits a looted museum in Iraq, looking for treasures he can ship back to Canada, he finds nine papyrus scrolls that have lain hidden for two thousand years. Once translated from Aramaic, these prove to be a fifth Gospel, written by an eye-witness of Jesus Christ’s last days. But when Theo decides to share this sensational discovery with the world, he fails to imagine the impact the new Gospel will have on Christians, Arabs, homicidal maniacs and Amazon customers. Like Prometheus’s gift of fire, it has incendiary consequences.
Michel Faber has written seven other books, including the highly acclaimed The Crimson Petal and the White, The Fahrenheit Twins and the Whitbread-shortlisted novel Under the Skin. The Apple, based on characters in The Crimson Petal and the White, was published in 2006. He has also written two novellas, The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps (2001) and The Courage Consort (2002), and has won several short-story awards, including the Neil Gunn, Ian St James and Macallan..RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
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This book is probably the most accessible so far in this series. Michel Faber does a great job of presenting a compelling story with a protagonist who is pretty oblivious to the consequences of his actions, at least at first. I couldn’t put this book down, I wanted to know how it would end. I recommend this book to people who aren’t sure if they want to read this series. it’s a good starting point (unless you’re like me and just want to read them all in order!)
I agree with Spencer, this book is very accessible. Having read The Crimson Petal and White a few years back, I never would have thought I’d say that, but this book is nothing like Crimson. It is a really quick read, and funny. Out of this series I’ve only read The Penelopiad (and at that time I wasn’t aware of the series).I’d definitely say I enjoyed this more. The best part of the book was definitely when Theo reads the Amazon reviews. That had me rolling.