Not for the first time, Whitbread Prize got it right after the Booker had got it wrong. Crace is invariably an original and inventive writer, and this inspired retelling of a famous story is one of the best English novels of recent years, and was so superior to last year's other Booker contenders, the outcome seemed inevitable. It is set in Judea at the time of Christ. Four pilgrims have arrived Canterbury Tale-like in the desert, intent on prayer - and survival. There is a fifth traveller, a loner, with far loftier preoccupations. No prizes for guessing his identity. The others become dependent on Musa, the appalling merchant ever ready to exploit human needs.
Irony, superb characterisation and a clever balancing of the individual stories make for a dazzling performance.
