The Bible of Clay [Import] [Hardcover]

Julia Navarro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2008

A compelling new novel that combines past and present in a riveting search for the source of the Book of Genesis itself.

In her provocative second novel, Spanish author Julia Navarro takes readers on an exhilarating journey across centuries and continents, as an upstart archeologist and a murderous group of conspirators vie for a treasure that will rewrite history–an explosive account of the world’s creation recorded millennia ago by a humble scribe onto the legendary Bible of Clay.

Moving back and forth through time, from the tense months preceding the contemporary war in Iraq, to ancient Mesopotamia, to the atrocities of the last century, this tale of vengeance, obsession, and the wholesale plundering of the ancient world’s most priceless treasures is populated by an international cast of political opportunists, ruthless killers, and unsullied seekers of truth. The Bible of Clay is historical fiction at its richest, a sweeping saga that challenges at once both conventional geopolitics and the very foundations of modern religion.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

International bestseller Navarro (The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud) wades back into the religious artifact suspense pond, but this time she's pretty much dead in the water with too many unpleasant characters, repetitive exposition, a plodding plot and flat unimaginative prose (perhaps the fault of the translator?). In Iraq, shortly before the current war, Iraqi archeologist Clara Tannenberg announces an incredible find: two cuneiform clay tablets that refer to another set of tablets that record the biblical patriarch Abraham's story of the creation of the earth. The twist is that this clay bible with Abraham's narrative was written a thousand years before the papyrus version we know today. This discovery, one character asserts, will "change history, with repercussions in religion and even politics." How this will happen and what the repercussions will be are never really explained, as a group of off-the-shelf evil Nazis vie with Clara's thuggish grandfather and a few other interested parties to find, seize, steal or sell the clay tablets. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Review

Praise for The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud:

“An exuberant, deeply involved thriller. . . . Terrifically lively characterizations and the author’s passion for her subject make this one stand out.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“A religious suspense thriller with an epic quest. . . . [Navarro] writes well and her characterizations are strong. . . . Superior.”
—The Observer (UK)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday Canada (March 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385663420
• ISBN-13: 978-0385663427
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,279,395 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lost in translation? Not this time..., August 20, 2008

By 

Peter Kobs "Peter Kobs" (Battle Creek, MI, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bible of Clay (Hardcover)

The basic concept behind this novel is pretty interesting: The granddaughter of a famous archaeologist is frantically searching for the first copy of the Book of Genesis, which was written on clay cuneiform tablets by a young scribe almost 4,000 years ago. The author? Abraham himself supposedly dictated the story before leaving Ur.

Unfortunately, these mysterious tablets lay hidden underground in Iraq -- just days before the outbreak of the Iraq War in March 2003. Mix in some old Nazis, concentration camp survivors, government agents and you have one heck of a race underway.

Sadly, the thin writing and poor narrative structure of this novel simply can't sustain the intriguing plot line. Navarro's sense of pacing is very choppy and most of the characters are poorly developed, if at all. In fact, I'd say this would be a much better novel with about half the number of players.

After a while, I wondered: "Could this be the translator's fault?" Driven by curiosity, I accessed a long excerpt in the original Spanish, only to conclude that we can't blame the translator this time around. The original is just as stiff as the English version.

¡Qué lástima! Better luck next time.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How strong is The Bible of Clay? Very strong., April 1, 2008

By 

Robert Abidor "Arizona Bob" (Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bible of Clay (Hardcover)

Have you been DaVinci Code'd to death? If not, and without any clear cut political enemies to make great fiction, few of us can be, then The Bible of Clay is a great read. Combining previously unknown histocial documents (herr a "bible" transcribed by Abraham onto clay tablets, with the fall of Iraq, Julia Navarro continues the fine work of Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud.

There is no sophomore slump here. Navarro works magic with a great plot, faced pace action and old Nazi's to boot. Yet, despite these desprite elements the story works well. A little poitical thriller also adds to the mix to keep the action flowing. With flashbacks to biblical times as well as to World War ll, the Bible of Clay involves the quest to recovery ancient tablets containing the biblical tales. Seeking these tablets are a Nazi and his granddaughter, Saddam's forces and the Nazi's business partners (and, of course, fellow Nazi's). Opposing them are Holocaust survivors (not presented in the best light they typically recceive) and several hired murderers.

Why 4 stars, not 5? Sometimes you can suspend reality a bit too often to make plot work. I felt that Navarro resorted to plot tricks at times when they were not needed and lost a bit of the flow while trying to conclude one too many plot lines.

Nevertheless, The Bible of Clay will keep you interested, will bring you back to your daily reading schedule and does open great promise for this year's vacation reading prospects.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Promising Beginning but Falls Short, June 5, 2008

By 

Cynthia R. Harp (Indianapolis, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bible of Clay (Hardcover)

I had high hopes for this book. It was very promising in the beginning, but I think, ultimately, the lack of compelling characters caused my interest to wane. The story was a bit too convoluted and long, there was no character I cared about or liked, and the underwhelming denouement left me with an overall reaction of "So what?" Maybe a more stringent editor would have helped the plot along, although how to make me care about these characters, I do not know...