Le Transfert des cendres

On 27 December 1933 crowds in London celebrate the arrival of the Codex Sinaiticus, a Bible holding the Old and New Testaments that was kept for centuries at St Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai desert and is seen by many as one of the earliest versions of the Gospels. How did it reach London, and who took it out of the monastery? The novel goes back to the German theologian Constantin von Tischendorf and his secret wars against the monks of Sinai: he carried the manuscript off, soon got rid of it by selling it to the Russians as if it burned his hands, and it ended up in the British Museum, out of sight, because it raises a serious problem. Religion, passion, pride and vanity mingle in the intrigue.

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About the book

Form

Novel

Length

272 pages in the original

Genres

Historical (assigned by AI)

Set in

Egypt, United Kingdom

First published

2009 by Éditions Bénévent

Author's age

63 when first published

ISBN

9782756312088 (original)