If turning scraps of ancient papyrus into an enthralling true-crime escapade takes a miracle, consider Ariel Sabar a miracle worker. In September 2012, Harvard Divinity School professor Karen King shook the foundations of the Christian church when she announced the discovery of what she called "The Gospel of Jesus's Wife." Sabar was the only journalist in the room for the presentation. The most impressive biblical scholars from around the world had gathered in Rome for an annual conference that began unassumingly and ended in a media firestorm. Clumsy handwriting, horrid syntax and unsubstantiated dating set off a chain reaction of queries, criticisms and suspicions of forgery.
The National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of My Father's Paradise transforms top-notch research skills into riveting suspense. And even as he closes in early on his prime suspect, method and motive prove to be the more baffling questions, at increasingly bizarre turns, in a refreshingly dogged pursuit of truth. --Dave Wheeler, associate editor, Shelf Awareness