The Lost Wisdom of the Magi

Winner of the 2021 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for Best Historical Set against a background of the Jewish Revolt against Rome of 66-70CE, this historical fiction novel tells the story of Sophia, a Babylonian Jew who learns ancient languages at the royal archives of the Parthians and secretly studies the magic on cuneiform tablets. She runs away from home, joining a Nabataean incense caravan, studies with the Essenes on the Dead Sea and joins with the militants of Qumran. As the Zealots battle to defend Jerusalem against Titus, she falls in love with a Greek freedman, Athanasios, a comrade in arms. Jews and Christians briefly unite with Samaritans and the People of the Land. But revolutionary Jerusalem is not the paradise of which they had dreamed, and messiahs may prove false. After the devastating defeat, Sophia flees to Alexandria, where she founds an academy for women scholars. These are her memoirs, addressed to her ‘disciples’, to whom she recounts her experiences, expounds her ‘wisdom’ and details her magical recipes. The novel reflects meticulous research on early Christianity, Jewish history and the history of magic, also weaving in fanciful material from Christian and Jewish lore.

© 2021 Susie Helme (Rafbók): 9781839781391

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Rafbók: 1 januari 2021