Martin Shapiro

Scroll of Naska: Sojourn in Egypt Martin Shapiro

A Tale of Intrigue and Adventure in Biblical Times

The Scroll was discovered in southern Iraq (ancient Sumer) by Col. Reginald Barry II during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and was clandestinely brought to Oxford University in England to be translated and published. Col Barry, in civilian life was an Adjunct Professor of Semitic languages at Oxford. When published in 1997, The Scroll became an instant sensation, but created an enormous firestorm of controversy as new information came forth from unexpected quarters.

Narrated by Naska, Scroll of Naska breathes new life into a well-worn tale, removing Joseph from biblical context to create an intriguing and dynamic character. Novelist Martin Shapiro has woven a captivating story of romance, love, jealousy, greed, anger, revenge, and even murder. Readers will be drawn deep into the lives of Shapiro?s cast of characters in this four book series. Naska?s tale is indeed an epic, an ancient story in which contemporary readers will face the timeless truth of the human heart and experience.
****

On his deathbed, the Old Testament patriarch Jacob extracts a promise from Naska, a Midianite trader from Damascus to create a written record of his life among the Hebrews and his friendship with Jacob?s son Joseph. Naska complies dictating this prebiblical text to three Sumerian scribes, and what unfolds is an extraordinarily revealing novel of life in the time of biblical Joseph, transcribed more than one thousand years before the Bible was committed to parchment.

It was Naska who purchased the boy in the desert of Canaan when his ten brothers, jealous of Joseph?s place as their father?s favorite son, sold him into slavery. But they kept the coat of many colors. In spite the inequality of their stations, the two men develop a grudging mutual respect and, eventually, become friends. In Luxor, where Naska is developing a massive farm on Temple lands, he and Joseph face a series of challenges and temptations that will test their faith and their friendship. Packed with romance, love, jealousy, greed, hate, anger, revenge and even murder, this richly detailed account of life in biblical times reveals the timelessness of the human heart and experience.
This episode opens as Naska (now 48 years) and Joseph (now 22 years) confess to each other their desire to do an outrageous act! Each persuades the other to wait, so an alternate solution can be found. The events that Joseph encounters in Torah, The Old Testament, happen here too, but not necessarily, as the bible would have you believe. Maybe Joseph was NOT the ?choirboy? the bible makes him out to be. The plots and subplots work well, delivering an engrossing story. The fiction and bible story fit together seamlessly. Some sex and violence is graphic, but the adult reader, in this day and age, should take it in stride.
If you know nothing or just a bit, or more about the Joseph story in the Old Testament, you can truly enjoy this book. But if you believe that the Bible is the sacred word of G-d, you will condemn that author as a heretic and a blasphemer! This later group in herewith warned. Perhaps Novelist Shapiro was hoping to be banned in Boston! This intriguing adventure is recommended to all. It is an excellent read; a sure 5 Star Series!