A NOVEL BY THE WINNER OF THE JCB PRIZE FOR LITERATURE AND THE AUTHOR OF GOAT DAYS

The Jews have been suffering under Roman occupation for centuries, hoping for a messiah from the House of David to come and liberate them. Jesus of Nazareth is reluctant, but when John the Baptist is killed by the Romans, it is up to him to take on this mantle. But the rival Tribe of Benjamin desists this intrusion into Jerusalem by a successor of David and conspires with the Romans to betray Jesus. Despite a common enemy in the Romans, the Jews are divided by their laws and hierarchies, and their priests don't want to hear Jesus' message of love and equality.

A bold and secular retelling of the life and times of Jesus Christ, The Second Book of Prophets resculpts many Christian beliefs in an iconoclastic manner. Here is the story of Jesus of Nazareth, a revolutionary seething at the injustices of his time and who saw beyond the narrow divisions that mark human nature. Deeply relevant to our fractured times, acclaimed Malayalam writer Benyamin pushes new ground in this deeply humanist retelling of one of the most remarkable beings in our histories.