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which is also crucial for post-Holocaust Judaism.

Ultimately, though, My Name Was Judas is a story about stories and how they are told, and about the power of the Word, the power that led to the rise of Jesus the prophet and that was, quite literally, the death of him.

It's told in a extremely convincing voice - cultured and humane, wise but with a remaining streak of intellectual arrogance, tempered by age but still present. The narration consists of a mixture of Judas's current thought and activities with a series of flashbacks that tell the main story, but the clarity of writing is such that the jumps from current to past events don't cause any confusion.

The landscape and people of Palestine are evoked vividly in simple, clear, beautiful prose, without flourishes but with a power to transport us to there and then.

My Name Was Judas is a stimulating novel that is likely to make the reader think: either pondering the possible validity of Judas's retelling or simply enjoying a good story skilfully told.

Apart from the original Gospels, there are echoes of other retellings there, from Bulgakov's Master and Margarita to the Life of Brian though you don't need to know them to enjoy the novel. I do think you need to know the Bible version to enjoy and appreciate My Name Was Judas. Not word-for-word or verse by verse perhaps, but more than "Jesus was born in a manger, then preached and performed miracles and then died on the cross". Otherwise the joys of satisfying recognition along the lines of "oh, that's how Judas tells THAT bit" will pass you by and with that half of the enjoyment.

It's not the best or most inspiring of Gospel retellings I know: despite all its good qualities it lacks a certain spark that would raise it to the truly great, those that would make you always doubt the original (or any other version); but it's a compelling enough one and at less than 250 pages of beautiful, clear prose certainly worth reading.

Paperback, 256 pages, Harvill Secker (2 Nov 2006)

Learn more about this author, Magda Healey.
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