Lazarus is Dead
Like most men in their early thirties, Lazarus has plans that don’t involve dying. He is busy organising his sisters, his business and his women. Life is mostly good, until far away in Galilee, without warning, his childhood best friend turns water into wine.
Immediately, Lazarus falls ill. And with each subsequent miracle his health deteriorates: a nasty cough blooms into an alarming panorama of afflictions. His sisters think Jesus can help, but given the history of their friendship Lazarus disagrees. What he is sure of is that he’ll try everything in his power to make himself well. Except for calling on Jesus.
Lazarus dies. Jesus weeps. This part we all know.
But as Lazarus is about to find out, returning from the dead isn’t easy. You think you want a second chance at life, but what do you do when you get it? Lazarus has his own story, he is his own man, and he is determined to avoid the mistakes he made the first time round.
A thrillingly inventive, genre-bending novel, Lazarus is Dead is the definitive account of the life, death and life of Lazarus, as never told before.
‘It is the narrative voice – cultivated, wry, yet not too knowing to sustain a note of wonder – that makes this novel so compelling.’
– Sunday Times
‘An idiosyncratic delight… yet again, Beard shows himself to be one of our most inventive novelists.’
– Mail on Sunday
‘Beard strikes just the right tone… Enough flesh and blood is added to the bones of Lazarus’s story to make you care about his eventual fate… Lazarus is Dead is a delightful falsehood – a brilliant novel and a shining example of gospel untruth.’
– Guardian
‘Beard’s take on Lazarus is nothing less than astonishing—and he respects the reader by taking religion and religious questions seriously.’
– Kirkus * Review
‘As gripping as a thriller and endlessly thought-provoking… Surprising, spellbinding, witty and utterly original.’
– Sunday Herald
‘This clever and original book keeps the reader guessing until the death – and beyond‘
– Financial Times
‘A brilliant reimagining of the Lazarus story…wry, incisive and surprisingly moving.’
– Irish Times
‘What an extraordinary book this is – ingenious and gripping in all the best ways – both exhilaratingly fresh and mordantly ironic. It’s also a tremendously good read.’
– The Tablet
‘No ordinary novel: it is a brilliant, genre-bending retelling and subversion of one of the oldest, most sensational stories in the western canon.’
– Sunday Business Post
