Quarantine

£7.99

Quarantine is a novel based around Jesus’ forty days and nights encountering evil in the wilderness of the Judean desert while searching for God. This telling of the story, however, is markedly different from any earlier versions.

Crace integrates his setting into the fabric of his story, describing the desert in minute detail. He painstakingly depicts the flora and fauna and the geography and geology to create a vivid illustration of this world for the reader.

Jesus, in this tale, is more of an unlearned carpenter, “transformed by god like other boys his age were changed by girls”, than someone divine. Indeed, he is reprimanded by his parents for his piety. Jesus spends his time alone, in the most uncomfortable of caves. He heals a seemingly terminally ill man who then proceeds to exact his power over others on retreat.

It’s a peculiar tale, guaranteed to make the reader think, and full of breathtaking descriptions of the novel’s setting.