Behold Your King

<p>In this unusual and accomplished novel Naomi Mitchison retells in realistic terms and colloquial dialogue the story of the passion and death of Jesus hour by hour as it unfolds over the twenty-four hours of Good Friday. In a restless Jerusalem under Roman occupation political and personal agendas lead inexorably to the crucifixion while the followers of Jesus - his mother the fishermen young Mary of Magdala - can only wait unhappy and confused. Mitchison probably inspired by the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947-56 drew in writing this novel not only on the New Testament gospels but also on fragmentary or lost gospels and on tradition. Herself a humanist she scrupulously presents 'the historical Jesus'. But at the end of the novel as the disciples keep watch by the garden tomb she leaves the reader with a question: what happened next?</p>