A never-before-published novel from beloved author Zora Neale Hurston, revealing the historical Herod the Great - not the demon the Bible makes him out to be but a religious and philosophical man who lived a life of adventure.

In the 1950s, after the publication of Moses, Man of the Mountain, Zora Neale Hurston penned a historical novel reconsidering the life of one of the most well-known Biblical figures, Herod the Great, reimagining him in a very different light than his villainous portrayal in the New Testament. In Hurston's retelling, Herod is a forerunner of Christ, a religious and philosophical man who enriched Jewish culture and lived a life of adventure.

From the peaks of triumph to the depths of human misery, the historical Herod 'seemed to have been singled out by some deity and especially endowed to attract the zigzag lightning of fate,' Hurston writes. An intimate of both Marc Antony and Julius Caesar, the Judean king lived in a time of war and imperial expansion that was rife with political assassinations and bribery, as the old world gave way to the new.

Setting him within this vivid, colorful world little known to modern readers, Hurston's unfinished manuscript brings this complex, compelling, and misunderstood leader fully into focus. Scholar and literary critic Deborah Plant contributes 'Commentary: A Story Finally Told' as an end note underscoring Hurston's point about how reimagining figures from the past can address the troubles we experience today.

'Zora Neale was a knockout in her life' MAYA ANGELOU

The never before published final novel by the author of Their Eyes Were Watching God

About the Author

Zora Neale Hurston was a novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist. She finished four novels (Jonah's Gourd Vine, 1934; Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1937; Moses, Man of the Mountains, 1939; and Seraph on the Suwanee, 1948) as well as The Life of Herod the Great, which she was still writing when she died; two books of folklore (Mules and Men, 1935, and Every Tongue Got to Confess, 2001); a work of anthropological research, (Tell My Horse, 1938); an autobiography (Dust Tracks on a Road, 1942); an international bestselling nonfiction work (Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo," 2018); and over fifty short stories, essays, and plays. She attended Howard University, Barnard College, and Columbia University and was a graduate of Barnard College in 1928. She was born on January 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama, and grew up in Eatonville, Florida.

Reviews

Praise for Zora Neale Hurston:

'Their Eyes Were Watching God is one of the very greatest American novels of the 20th century. It is so lyrical it should be sentimental; it is so passionate it should be overwrought, but it is instead a rigorous, convincing and dazzling piece of prose, as emotionally satisfying as it is impressive. There is no novel I love more' ZADIE SMITH

'To the last page that fills the soul with tears, Hurston's novel delivers. To me, it is also a welcome reminder that books are democratic, subversive and life-changing' THE TIMES

'This novel is a packet of surprises as we have no idea what's going to happen next. Many romantic novels basically have the same plot, but this novel is something no one would have ever imagined' GUARDIAN

'There is no book more important to me than this one. It speaks to me as no novel, past or present, has ever done' ALICE WALKER

'Zora Neale Hurston was a knockout in her life, a wonderful writer and a fabulous person. Devilishly funny and academically solid: delicious mixture' MAYA ANGELOU

Book Information
ISBN 9780008732783
Author Zora Neale Hurston
Format Hardback
Page Count 288
Imprint HQ
Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
Weight(grams) 270g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 159mm * 21mm