Defending a young religious zealot who is being held in the Bedlam hospital for the insane, Matthew Shardlake investigates a series of murders with ties to Lady Catherine Parr, a reform sympathizer and future wife of Henry VIII.

"Whispered secrets about her parents' past take on new urgency for Chariline as she pays one last visit to the land of her forefathers, the ancient kingdom of Cush. Raised as an orphan by her aunt, Chariline has only been told a few pieces of her parents' tragic love story. Her beautiful dark skin is proof that her father was Cushite, but she knows nothing else. While visiting her grandfather before his retirement as the Roman official in the queen's...

"The Jewish Study Bible combines the entire Hebrew Bible--in the celebrated Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation--with explanatory notes, introductory materials, and essays by leading biblical scholars on virtually every aspect of the text, the world in which it was written, its interpretation, and its role in Jewish life. The quality of scholarship, easy-to-navigate format, and vibrant supplementary features bring the ancient text to life"--...

"A masterly analysis of the Book of Leviticus, the newest volume in the award-winning series of commentaries on the Hebrew Bible by "a celebrated biblical scholar, keen on weaving together traditional Jewish exegesis, psychoanalysis, and postmodern criticism" (The New York Times Book Review). The image of the Golden Calf haunts the commentaries that thread through Leviticus. This catastrophic episode, in which the Israelites (freed from Egyptian slavery...

Welcome to the fascinating story of how we got the world's greatest book-the Bible. It is a captivating story that includes a little bit of everything: adventure and violence, mystery and bravery, history and romance, and dumb luck or divine intervention-depending on your point of view. How in the world did we get this book that some people swear by-and other people swear at? You don't have to be a skeptic to have a grocery list of questions about...

"In The First Christmas, Stephen Mitchell brings the Nativity story to vivid life as never before. A narrative that is only sketched out in two Gospels becomes fully realized here with nuanced characters and a setting that reflects the culture of the time. Mitchell has suffused the birth of Jesus with a sense of beauty that will delight and astonish readers. In this version, we see the world through the eyes of a Whitmanesque ox and a visionary donkey,...