тАЬBoth the knowledge of a scholar and the imagination of a poet are brought to bear upon Jesus as child, boy, and man.┬а.┬а.┬а. A bold speculative adventureтАЭ (Harold Brighouse, Manchester Guardian).
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In Robert GravesтАЩs unique retelling, Jesus is very much a mortal and the grandson of King Herod the Great. When his father runs afoul of the kingтАЩs temper and is executed, Jesus is raised in the house of Joseph the Carpenter. The kingdom he is heir to, in this version of the story, is very much a terrestrial one: the Kingdom of Judah. Graves tells of JesusтАЩs rise as a philosopher, scriptural scholar, and charismatic speaker in sharp detail, as well as his arrest and downfall as a victim of pitiless Roman politics.
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Bringing together his unparalleled narrative skill and in-depth expertise in historical scholarship, renowned classicist and historical novelist Robert Graves brings the story of Jesus Christ to life in a strikingly unorthodox way, making this one of the most hotly contested novels Graves ever wroteтАФand possibly one of the most controversial ever written. It provides a fascinating new twist to a well-known story, one that fans of this historical period are sure to love.
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тАЬThis is not reading for the easily shocked; it definitely presents Jesus as a sage and a [poet], if not divine. It moves, as does all Mr. GravesтАЩ writing, at a brilliant fast pace, and with a tremendous style.тАЭ тАФKirkus Reviews