The Egyptologist Georg Ebers found an old monastic tale while researching the Sinai peninsula and built this novel around it. Among the anchorites who live in caves on the holy mountain and the townsfolk of the oasis of Pharan, a hermit’s act of self-sacrifice exposes the pull between ascetic vows and human passion, as Roman officials, senators and desert raiders press in.
A novel of early Christian asceticism, translated by Clara Bell, on the cost of renouncing the world. Download the free EPUB.