In the dark days that follow the Roman devastation of Jerusalem in AD 70, nineteen-year-old Shelamzion bat Judah finds herself captured and awaiting both her own execution and that of her husband, former rebel-leader Simon bar Gioras. Alone and forgotten, there seems little reason to go on living, yet a strange friendship begins to grow between Shelamzion and her austere, old Roman jailor, Fabius Cornelius Grammaticus. With his pretensions to be recognized as an historian in the style of Livy, it is to her he turns to record the true version of events behind the insurrection in Judea that led to the destruction of her country. Time is running out, however, and unknowingly history is being rewritten by a traitor’s hand.

The central character of this book has no name. Almost forgotten by history she might have passed into obscurity, just another slave at the court of Herod the Great. But Loshema (no name) has a talent for storytelling. Hidden in the shadows she charts Herod’s rise from man to king, and from king to monster.

But Loshema is far from the usual kind of narrator. At times she talks directly to the reader, drawing them into the fascinating and dangerous world of Jerusalem over two millennia ago, a world populated with the great names of the time, Mark Antony, Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Octavian …

As she reaches maturity, Loshema can no longer be a passive observer, but finds herself entangled with the highest levels of intrigue. And as paranoia begins to destroy Herod’s kingdom, she suddenly finds herself wielding power over who will live and who will die.

(This book is based on the accounts in Josephus, not the gospel of Matthew.)

“Many innocents will die before this story is over. Just not the ones you were expecting. And the son of God has less to fear in this world than the sons of man. But why waste time? We both know why you are here. You want to see the monster.”

Daniel Gallagher has a secret too big for an eight-year-old to bear. But his mother is afraid to hear it. And so, they live in an uneasy chaos of lies and half-truths until the day that a chance encounter brings Daniel into the life of eighty-one-year-old Sadie Gordon. Sadie is a survivor of Stalinist Russia, who spends her twilight years tending her garden and trying to remember her daughter-in-law’s name. What could Sadie and Daniel possibly have in common, except the knowledge that they will soon be embarking on a journey into eternity.

In the dark days that follow the Roman devastation of Jerusalem in AD 70, nineteen-year-old Shelamzion bat Judah finds herself captured and awaiting both her own execution and that of her husband, former rebel-leader Simon bar Gioras. Alone and forgotten, there seems little reason to go on living, yet a strange friendship begins to grow between Shelamzion and her austere, old Roman jailor, Fabius Cornelius Grammaticus. With his pretensions to be recognized as an historian in the style of Livy, it is to her he turns to record the true version of events behind the insurrection in Judea that led to the destruction of her country. Time is running out, however, and unknowingly history is being rewritten by a traitor’s hand.

The central character of this book has no name. Almost forgotten by history she might have passed into obscurity, just another slave at the court of Herod the Great. But Loshema (no name) has a talent for storytelling. Hidden in the shadows she charts Herod’s rise from man to king, and from king to monster.

But Loshema is far from the usual kind of narrator. At times she talks directly to the reader, drawing them into the fascinating and dangerous world of Jerusalem over two millennia ago, a world populated with the great names of the time, Mark Antony, Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Octavian …

As she reaches maturity, Loshema can no longer be a passive observer, but finds herself entangled with the highest levels of intrigue. And as paranoia begins to destroy Herod’s kingdom, she suddenly finds herself wielding power over who will live and who will die.

(This book is based on the accounts in Josephus, not the gospel of Matthew.)

“Many innocents will die before this story is over. Just not the ones you were expecting. And the son of God has less to fear in this world than the sons of man. But why waste time? We both know why you are here. You want to see the monster.”

Daniel Gallagher has a secret too big for an eight-year-old to bear. But his mother is afraid to hear it. And so, they live in an uneasy chaos of lies and half-truths until the day that a chance encounter brings Daniel into the life of eighty-one-year-old Sadie Gordon. Sadie is a survivor of Stalinist Russia, who spends her twilight years tending her garden and trying to remember her daughter-in-law’s name. What could Sadie and Daniel possibly have in common, except the knowledge that they will soon be embarking on a journey into eternity.