The Fire Gospel

The Fire Gospel

by Michel Faber (Author)

Synopsis

Theo Griepenkerl is a modest academic with an Olympian ego. When he visits a looted museum in Iraq, looking for treasures he can ship back to Canada, he finds nine papyrus scrolls that have lain hidden for two thousand years. Once translated from Aramaic, these prove to be a fifth Gospel, written by an eye-witness of Jesus Christ's last days. But, when Theo decides to share this sensational discovery with the world, he fails to imagine the impact the new Gospel will have on Christians, Arabs, homicidal maniacs and Amazon customers. Like Prometheus' gift of fire, it has incendiary consequences. "The Fire Gospel" is an enthralling novel about the power of words to resonate across centuries, and inspire and disrupt in equal measure. Wickedly provocative, hilarious and shocking by turns, it is a revelatory piece of storytelling.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 208
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Canongate
Published: 06 Nov 2008

ISBN 10: 1847672787
ISBN 13: 9781847672780

Media Reviews
The most enjoyable novel I've read all year. * * Independent on Sunday on 'Crimson Petal' * *
Irresistibly readable. * * Sunday Times on 'Crimson Petal' * *
An intensely imaginative time-travel experience. * * Independent on 'Crimson Petal' * *
A real triumph. This is a man who would give Conrad a run at writing the perfect sentence. * * Guardian on 'Under the Skin' * *
Faber's writing is chaste, dryly humorous and resolutely moral ... A remarkable novel. * * New York Times on 'Under the Skin' * *
A pacy book-world satire. -- Naomi West * * Harper's Bazaar * *
Sharply satirical. -- Tom Gatti * * The Times * *
The Fire Gospel is an entertaining story, with a vein of playful symbolism running throughout . . . a provocative little volume with a strong element of knowing humour. -- Henry Hitchings * * Financial Times * *
Faber is flexing his literary and academic muscles here, but covering everything in easy to digest, page-turning and often very funny prose. ... Definitely proof that one of our most entertaining and original authors has risen again. -- Claire Sawers * * The List * *
Startling. ...What he did for the Victorian novel in The Crimson Petal and the White - rethinking and recasting it - Faber now does for the best-selling books du jour. The Da Vinci Code with gags - and bile. -- Ian Sansom * * Guardian * *
A lean, controlled, instantly engrossing book. -- Lisa Mullen * * Time Out * *
Author Bio
MICHEL FABER has written seven other books, including the highly acclaimed The Crimson Petal and the White, The Fahrenheit Twins and the Whitbread-shortlisted novel Under the Skin. The Apple, based on characters in The Crimson Petal and the White, was published in 2006. He has also written two novellas, The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps (2001) and The Courage Consort (2002), and has won several short-story awards, including the Neil Gunn, Ian St James and Macallan. Born in Holland, brought up in Australia, he now lives in the Scottish Highlands.