Description
The epic bestseller and winner of the prestigious Aegon Literary Award in Hungary, "Captivity" is an enthralling and illuminating historical saga set in the time of Jesus about a Roman Jew on a quest to the Holy Land. A literary sensation in Hungary, Gyorgy Spiro s "Captivity" is both a highly sophisticated historical novel and a gripping page-turner. Set in the tumultuous first century A.D., between the year of Christ s death and the outbreak of the Jewish War, "Captivity" recounts the adventures of the feeble-bodied, bookish Uri, a young Roman Jew. Frustrated with his hapless son, Uri s father sends the young man to the Holy Land to regain the family s prestige. In Jerusalem, Uri is imprisoned by Herod and meets two thieves and (perhaps) Jesus before their crucifixion. Later, in cosmopolitan Alexandria, he undergoes a scholarly and sexual awakening but must also escape a pogrom. Returning to Rome at last, he finds an entirely unexpected inheritance. Equal parts Homeric epic, brilliantly researched Jewish history, and picaresque adventure, "Captivity" is a dramatic tale of family, fate, and fortitude. In its weak-yet-valiant hero, fans will be reminded of Robert Graves classics of Ancient Rome, "I, Claudius" and "Claudius the God.""
