by Graham Joyce
First published 1998
Tom Webster walks through Jerusalem's ancient streets, carrying the weight of his wife's recent death. He came to this divided city to find an old college friend, hoping for some relief from the guilt that follows him everywhere. Instead, Jerusalem offers only conflict between religious groups and echoes of ancient mysteries. An elderly woman begins appearing to Tom, speaking in riddles he cannot decode. When a Jewish innkeeper shows him a fragment from the Dead Sea Scrolls that has been kept secret, Tom thinks he has found the answer to her strange messages. The discovery pushes him toward madness as he becomes convinced that Mary Magdalene is speaking to him from beyond death. She wants him to understand something crucial about the Resurrection, some truth that history has buried. Tom must find meaning in these visions before his grief destroys what remains of his sense of self.
Genres: literary-fiction, mystery, fantasy, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: grief, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Jerusalem
Period: Ancient
288 pages · Paperback · Tor Books
Content warnings: mental-illness