The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

Jesus of Nazareth grows up burdened by guilt and destiny.

Set in first-century Judea under Roman rule, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ reimagines the life of Jesus.

Saramago's Jesus is the son not of God but of Joseph. Mary Magdalene is his lover not his convert. In the wilderness he tussles not with the Devil, a kindly and necessary evil, but with God, a fallible, power-hungry autocrat. And he must die not for the sins of the fathers but for the sins of the Father.

By investigating these simple inversions Saramago has woven a dark parable; a secular gospel of astonishing richness and depth.

‘An original, wild, and beautiful book’ Times Literary Supplement