AustLit

'From the best-selling author of The Hand that Signed the Paper, winner of the Miles Franklin Award, comes a sensational epic novel.

'784 ab urbe condita-31 AD. Jerusalem sits uneasily in a Roman Empire that has seen an industrial revolution and now has cable news and fl ying machines - and rites and morals that are strange and repellent to the native people of Judaea.

'A charismatic young leader is arrested after a riot in the Temple. He seems to be a man of peace, but among his followers are Zealots and dagger-men sworn to drive the Romans from the Holy Land.

'As the city sinks into violence, the stage is set for a legal case that will shape millennia - the trial of Yeshua Ben Yusuf. Intricately imagined and ferociously executed, Kingdom of the Wicked is a stunning alternative history and a story for our time.' (Publishing summary)

'786 ab urbe condita - 33AD.

'Time is running out for Yeshua Ben Yusuf, on trial for capital crimes after rioting against the moneychanges in the temple. His Roman defence lawyer and the Legion's military prosecutor bring their witnesses before Pontius Pilate - followers, soldiers, religious leaders, even his mother - revealing the accused man in ways that surprise and move those gathering for the verdict, connecting and transforming their lives.

'As Yeshua Ben Yusuf awaits judgment, the wounded Zealots prepare a final desperate strike. On the outskirts of Jerusalem, the occupation, the resistance and one holy man will meet their fate together.' (Publication summary)