Lazarus Is Dead by Richard Beard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I had the pleasure of meeting Richard Beard at a recent writer’s conference. He came across as intelligent and passionate about good writing, so I was curious to see whether his own writings hit the mark. And for me, the answer is a resounding “yes”.
The book fictionalises the New Testament’s Lazarus tale: the only person ever referred to as a friend of Jesus, and who was brought back from the dead just before the Crucifixion. I’m not at all religious, quite the opposite if fact, but this book personalises the Bible in a remarkable way. The depth of Richard’s research makes the character’s motivations believable: Lazarus, his sisters and even the Romans; they’re all human, not good, not bad, just people doing the best they can.
This certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you like intelligent, well written literature, then you should certainly give this a try.