The Authentic Gospel of Jesus

As readers of Le Divorce will remember, Johnson has a special flair for seeing (with affectionate amusement) the French and Americans through each other's perceptions, divining the particular fascination each has for the other, and celebrating their ablility, through language misinterpretation and cultural alienation, to reach the wrong conclusions. Tim, dilettante journalist, half-Belgian, half-American, and Anne-Sophie, specialist antique dealer with a stall in the Paris flea-market, are planning their wedding, and it's in this excited but nervous atmosphere that a cat's-cradle of events takes place. As the story opens, Anne-Sophie has just witnessed the aftermath of a very messy murder. Coincidentally, first-time American visitor, Delia, also an antique dealer on a buying trip, has not only witnessed the murder, but been robbed of her passport, wallet and all her money, and mysteriously 'lost' her travelling companion. She has a distant acquaintance living just outside Paris: Clara, one-time film star, who might help her. Clara, now married to her erstwhile director, is in gaol through misunderstandings with neighbours and the Local Authority. Still beautiful, she's also an emotional time-bomb awaiting detonation... Oh yes, and a very valuable manuscript has 'gone missing'. These are only a few of the poeple and happenings Johnson weaves into a complex tapestry of highly risible events - until the tune changes abruptly in the last pages from lightly jolly to momentarily discordant. But the author isn't one to leave the reader without hope, or happy anticipation - as you will see. (Kirkus UK)