Cirrus@Austlit

'The Crown of Thorns held in the Notre Dame Cathedral is a fake.

'The reliquary revered by the Christian world is not the Crown of Thorns that Jesus Christ had brutally thrust on his head at his crucifixion.

'In 34 C.E, Joseph of Bethany took the Crown that fell from Jesus Christ’s head as he was brought down from the cross. With the real Crown of Thorns in the hands of a ten-year-old boy, the Roman soldiers were forced to make another crown to deliver to the Church. The revelation of the real Crown of Thorns’ existence stands to destroy the belief that the Notre Dame Cathedral has held the revered reliquary since 1239.

'Thirty-five years after Christ’s crucifixion, an old priest of the Church of Zion chisels words onto a small stone tablet, declaring that the Crown of Thorns held by the Church is a fake.

'Many years later, Bertrando Ferrante, a Venetian merchant, discovers evidence that the Crown he sold to King Louis IX of France is not the real Crown of Thorns. He foolishly admits this to the corrupt Archbishop of Vincennes. The enraged archbishop tries to arrest Bertrando, but the merchant manages to escape. The Church pursues Bertrando and the Ferrante family over the centuries to force them to admit to the crimes of heresy and blasphemy.

'Centuries later, a German general serving in Turkey during the First World War becomes an unwilling possessor of the real Crown and decides to help the Ferrante family clear its name.

'As the real Crown of Thorns passes from possessor to possessor, each realise that the Crown has the power to heal. But there’s a catch. The Crown can heal those who are still alive, but it cannot heal the possessor.

'What’s more, a coded message on the floor of the Crown’s leather case defies attempts at being deciphered by any of the possessors throughout its journey. That is until Charles Edmonds and Lord James Halliday stumble upon the Crown in 1989.

'The epic journey of the real Crown through the ages reveals the love, greed, wickedness, tragedy, and passion of those who have either possessed the Crown or stolen it.' (Publication summary)

'This is a story of tragedy, unrequited love, international suspense, and driving ambition to defeat the grab for world domination. Kafira Weiss is an Israeli Biomedical Scientist whose passionate life purpose is to find a cure for the world's most deadly disease. After a tragic beginning, Kafira becomes the World's leading expert on the disease, working at CDC in Atlanta to continue her research as the Associate Director of the Special Pathogens Unit. In 1981, the Supreme Leader of North Korea lands rockets on the Moon, claiming the Moon for North Korea, to the exclusion of every other nation on Earth. To force the United Nations and the Member Countries to agree to his Claim, Kim iI Jong threatens to infect the world with a deadly disease. Shin Min Shu, is a North Korean Biomedical Scientist who has been forced to develop a more deadly strain of the virus central to the Claim. But Shin Min Shu is unhappy to be party to the killing of women and children that will inevitably occur if the United Nations rejects the North Korean Claim. Charles Edmonds is an ex Royal Marine Commando turned Astronomer who is now the Special Assistant to the Director of NASA. Charles becomes involved in the investigation of a teenage boy's observation of a flash on the Moon that has been reported to the FBI. The investigation reveals a ruthless organisation that will stop at nothing to ensure that the Claim is agreed. The CIA believes that the United States is being threatened, but needs proof. Kafira, as the World's leading expert on the disease has been requested to be part of the Lunar Module crew, to investigate the suspected presence on the Moon. Kafira agrees, and in doing so creates history as the first woman to walk on the Moon. The desperate question facing Kafira is whether she is able to find a cure for the disease that the North Koreans intend to use before the deliberate infections reach epidemic proportions.' (Source: Goodreads website)