The Scroll is an historical novel portraying Roman times in the Holy Land. Subscribers and followers of Jerusalem Perspective will find it a valuable addition to their library because it offers an honest, astute and quite frank perspective on the relationships between Jews and early Christians in the century after Jesus. Written by longtime Israeli tour educator, and student of biblical New Testament life and lore, Miriam Feinberg Vamosh, author of Daily Life at the Time of Jesus and other books on daily life in Bible and New Testament times, The Scroll is filled with fascinating historical detail that has been deftly woven into a tale that transports the reader back in time. The fabled sights of the Holy Land and beyond, during one of the most tempestuous times the land has known until our own day, are an unforgettable backdrop to your reading experience. You will find your heartbeat quickening as the central figures in the story deal with life-changing events and decisions.
Miriam Feinberg Vamosh, The Scroll (Menorah Books, 2016), 299 pages. ISBN 978-1-940516-46-2
This multi-generational tale is based on a real archaeological find—a Jewish divorce document found in the Judean Desert in the 1950s, issued—amazingly—at Masada, in 71 C.E. to a young woman named Miriam by her husband, Joseph. The well-crafted plot begins with survival of the Roman conquest of Masada by one woman—the Miriam of the ancient document—and the decisions she makes that affect the lives of her descendants in dramatic and astonishing ways.
The book is a gateway to a unique perspective on characters, real and imagined, who lived in the Land of Israel during those times, not only Jews, but Christians as well. This novel is a page-turner, at times a gripping one, leaving the reader with new and significant insights into the complexities of early ties between Jews and Jesus’ first followers, ties that continue to impact our relationships to this very day, and perhaps surprisingly, would seem to influence the decision makers in Israel today. Vamosh’s The Scroll is a must read.
