Gospel

Gospelconcerns the search for a lost first-century gospel of the Bible, a document that could shake the foundations of Christianity. Wilton Barnhardt's narrative races through three continents, nine countries, and dozens of colorful locales, as two character--shy theological student Lucy Dantan and hard-drinking, disillusioned ex-Jesuit Patrick O'Hanrahan--pursue rumors and clues about the gospel's whereabouts and contents. In the end, what they discover will challenge and forever change the nature of faith. An intellectual detective story with the erudition of Umberto Eco and the grand swirling entertainment of a nineteenth-century novel,Gospelis exciting, profound, reverent, and terrifically funny.

Wilton Barnhardt is the author of the novels Emma Who Saved My Life and Show World. A native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he is the director of the Masters in Fine Arts program in Creative Writing at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, where he lives. His new novel, Lookaway, Lookaway is forthcoming in 2013.

"Barnhardt is a real find...an entertainer of the first order."--Alan Cheuse, National Public radio

"A splendid novel on all counts."--Colleen McCullough, The New York Times Book Review

"A robust mix of prodigious scholarship and engaging plot."--Chicago Tribune