Author:
Tosca Lee is
the NY Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed DEMON: A MEMOIR,
HAVAH: THE STORY OF EVE, and the Books of Mortals series with NY Times
bestseller Ted Dekker: FORBIDDEN, MORTAL and SOVEREIGN (Spring, 2013).
ISCARIOT, her highly-anticipated novel of Judas, the infamous betrayer of
Christ, releases February 2013.
Tosca received her B.A. in English and
International Relations from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She
also studied at Oxford University. In her spare time, Tosca enjoys adventure
travel and makes her home in the Midwest. Check out her website.
Book
Description:
Based on extensive
research into the life and times of Judas Iscariot, this triumph of fiction
storytelling by the author of Havah:
The Story of Eve revisits one
of biblical history’s most maligned figures and brings the world he inhabited
vividly to life.
In Jesus, Judas believes he has found the
One—the promised Messiah and future king of the Jews, destined to overthrow
Roman rule. Galvanized, he joins the Nazarene’s followers, ready to enact the
change he has waited for all his life. But soon Judas’s vision of a nation free
from Rome is crushed by the inexplicable actions of the Nazarene himself, who
will not bow to social or religious convention—who seems, in the end, to even
turn against his own people. At last, Judas must confront the fact that the master
he loves is not the liberator he hoped for, but a man bent on a drastically
different agenda.
Iscariot is the story of Judas, from his tumultuous childhood to his
emergence as the man known to the world as the betrayer of Jesus. But even
more, it is a singular and surprising view into the life of Jesus that forces
us to reexamine everything we thought we knew about the most famous—and
infamous—religious icons in history.
My Thoughts:
My Rating: 5 stars.
After
reading Lee’s “Havah” and “Demon” I was ecstatic to hear that she was doing the
story of Judas Iscariot. Unlike most historical authors, she actually does
research and her characters are three dimensional. While we are all familiar
with the Biblical account of Judas, this novel puts a humanistic face on him
rather than writing him off as the incarnation of the devil. As the story
unfolds, you begin to sympathize with him and understand that at that point in
Jewish history, they were expecting a conquering king to free them from Roman
oppression. Though Jesus stirred up some trouble, He didn’t fit the mold (at
times He still doesn’t fit the mold people expect of Him). One point the author
makes throughout the book, is what we would have done if we were in Judas’
position? I guarantee that you’ll walk away from “Iscariot” with a different
perspective on the most maligned figure in the Bible.
