The kingdom of the wicked - Anthony Burgess

Anthony Burgess's new novel is one of the most ambitious fictional projects he has ever undertaken, its subject nothing less than a recreation of the first years of Christianity. Having seen their Lord return from the grave only to leave them again, his followers set out to create the religion that will come in time to bear his name, building it on their recollections of his words and his deeds. Ironically it is Saul the fanatical persecutor who drives them out of Palestine and into the wider world and Paul the passionate convert who shapes their simple ideas into a sophisticated religion that will find favour in the world of thoughtful Greeks and power-driven Romans.

Paul is the central figure in this extraordinary story, in which the tribulations, martyrdoms and early triumphs of the first Christians are counterpointed with the depravities and elaborate cruelties of Imperial Rome, the Kingdom of the Wicked ruled by such monsters of iniquity as Caligula and Nero. Superbly researched, full of vivid set-pieces and crowded with incident, it is also an account of the early years of the Christian era that readers will find deeply controversial.