Notes on an Execution: Lenten Reflections on the Last Days of Jesus

by Rhidian Brook

This compelling sequence of reports on the events of Holy Week traces the journey Jesus made from his arrival in Jerusalem to his execution.


The reports read as if contemporary to the events as they happened, enabling you to imagine them unfolding as though in real time, without relying on the after-the-event wisdom that we carry.


The result is a moving experience in which you become a first-hand follower, not always knowing what comes next, or how it will end, and without possessing the weight or comfort of the theological and cultural understanding that has gathered over the centuries since.


The book concludes with a personal reflection on the meaning of Easter, followed by a series of questions and prompts for further reflection or discussion.


Contents
Recognition (Palm Sunday)
Confrontation (Monday)
Interrogation (Tuesday)
Anointing (Wednesday)
Parting (Maundy Thursday)
Noise (Good Friday - First Meditation)
Silence (Good Friday - Second Meditation)
Execution (Good Friday)
Encounter (Easter)

96 pages, Paperback

Expected publication January 13, 2026

About the author

Rhidian Brook (born 1964) is a novelist, screenwriter and broadcaster.

His first novel, The Testimony Of Taliesin Jones (Harper Collins) won three prizes, including the 1997 Somerset Maugham Award, and was made into a film starring Jonathan Pryce. His second novel, Jesus And The Adman (Harper Collins) was published in 1999. His third novel, The Aftermath, was published in April 2013 by Penguin UK, Knopf US and a further 18 publishers around the world. His short stories have been published by The Paris Review, Punch, The New Statesman, Time Out and others; and several were broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Short Story.

His first commission for television - Mr Harvey Lights A Candle - was broadcast in 2005 on BBC1 and starred Timothy Spall. He wrote for the BBC series Silent Witness between 2005-7, and the factual drama Atlantis for BBC1 in 2008. Africa United, his first feature film (Pathe), went on general release in the UK in October 2010. He is adapting The Aftermath as a feature for Scott Free and BBC Film.

He has written articles for papers, including The Observer, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph. In 2005, he presented Nailing The Cross, a documentary for BBC1. In 2006 he broadcast a series In The Blood for BBC World Service, recording his family’s journey through the AIDS pandemic. His book about that journey - More Than Eyes Can See - was published by Marion Boyars in 2007.

He has been a regular contributor to Radio 4’s "Thought For The Day" for more than twelve years.

He lives with his wife and two children in London.