This first bracing instalment of the Ehud Papers, the pungent retelling of those age-old stories from the Bible, finds our hero at the Siege of Jericho around 1600 BC.
Life's not easy for a young Israelite in ancient Palestine. Your people have escaped from pyramid building in Egypt to scratching a living in the burning sands and sparse vegetation of the desert.
For some, like young Ehud, it gets even worse, when his family is massacred and he has one option, to join General Joshua's army and the invasion of the Promised Land.
But will he, armed only with sharp wits, sharp elbows and a sure skill with the leather sling, survive in this freewheeling and dangerous world of God-mad generals, cynical priests, bitter tribal hatreds and purring scheming women?
In the shadow of those great walls of Jericho Ehud tells his story. Frank, unapologetic, 'Like-me-or-loathe-me-I don't-care', this is his own engaging tale of survival. Yes, we know those great walls did come "atumbling down", and Ehud's version is very different, very disarming, and utterly believable.
