Set in the United States in the not-too-distant future, Colleen McCullough's new novel traces the progress of a truly good man from obscurity to worldwide fame.
Dr Joshua Christian's work as a clinical psychologist daily presents him with bitter tableaux of a people spiritually impoverished by too much change: political, climatic, ideological. Joshua's deep compassion and extraordinary personal magnetism have created a devout following among his patients, but living and working in the relative backwater of a small provincial city, he yearns to reach out and help on a much larger scale.
Enter Dr Judith Carriol, a brilliant senior official from the powerful new Department of the Environment. Ambitious, totally career-oriented, as elegant as she is Machiavellian, Judith recognizes in Joshua the personification of her desire to influence the history of her country. Joshua presents an irresistible prospect to one of her make-up, obsessed with power but preferring to wield it anonymously.
Together Judith and Joshua embark upon a crusade designed to regenerate the nation's morale by radically changing the outlook of its people. But always it is Judith who engineers, Joshua who must execute. It is Judith who dreams up Joshua's tour across a country devastated by winter, Judith who uncannily provides the mystified Joshua with every resource to make his incredible journey a reality. But it is Joshua alone who transforms the tour into an epic pilgrimage that touches and renews millions, and as he reaches out to the cold hands and despairing hearts of the people, his grateful followers come to see him as more than a man
With the skill that has made her one of the world's best-loved and most popular storytellers, Colleen McCullough has written an extraordinary novel of powerful emotional intensity. Its shattering climax will haunt readers long after the final page is furned.
Hard cover

Condition: Good