The Carpenter's Apprentice

by Matthew Price

In this most unusual coming-of-age story, the boy Jesus becomes a man amid the ordinary and extra-ordinary people of his youth. He is twelve years' old, learning the family trade, in the small Judean town of Nazareth. He is not an ordinary youngster, but he lives a normal life as the eldest child in a bustling family. But even in rural Judea, the times are becoming more unsettled. Roman invaders, highway robbers, extortionate tax collectors, rabble-rousing zealots, and a religion that seems to have lost touch with the people, all threaten his world. On his family's visit to Jerusalem for the Passover and his bar-Mitzvah, these forces change his life. He sees and is seen, hears and is heard, and an unremarkable carpenter's apprentice from nowhere changes the future. Matt Price has created a world of real people acting from all the normal human motives. Whatever your faith, you will find this story human and fascinating.

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 29, 2004