The Temple Scroll—one of the ancient writings describing the lives of holy priestly communities in the Judean desert—has fascinated scholars, monks, and mystics for centuries. First conceived in the sixth century at the suggestion of a Byzantine noblewoman, Eudocia, the scroll became part of the spiritual legacy of a secluded monastic sect. But by the early twentieth century, its whereabouts had vanished into legend.
In the tense years just before World War II, its mystery reawakens through the intertwined lives of Naomi, a young woman from Jerusalem’s Orthodox Jewish community, and Captain Gareth O’Reilly, a British officer stationed in Palestine.
Determined to escape an arranged marriage, Naomi flees her family and finds refuge within the ancient monasteries of Jerusalem. There she encounters the whispered lore of the Temple Scroll—a relic coveted by religious authorities, monastic orders, and the academic world alike. Gareth, drawn deeper into Naomi’s world, soon discovers that the quest for the scroll is shadowed by danger.
A secretive monastic clan, shaped by old Gnostic beliefs and entangled in the illicit trade of genuine and forged antiquities, will stop at nothing to possess the document. When a series of murders shakes Jerusalem—including the killing of a Jewish scholar searching both for Naomi and for the scroll—the British authorities launch an investigation. But suspicion quickly turns toward Gareth, forcing him to make a fateful decision.
He deserts his post, and together he and Naomi flee northward toward the Lebanese border. Their escape becomes an unexpected pilgrimage, mirroring the ancient path of the scroll itself. With each step, they draw closer not only to freedom but to the truth behind the fate of the Temple Scroll—a truth that Naomi must ultimately confront.
Set against the backdrop of a world edging toward devastation, this novel explores the clash between lofty spiritual ideals and the harsh realities of human ambition, corruption, and violence. A sweeping tale of forbidden love, historical mystery, and moral struggle, it immerses readers in a Jerusalem where faith and betrayal walk side by side.