The Liar's Gospel by Naomi Alderman

A novel about the life of Jesus and his followers, portraying a very different message than that contained in the Bible.  The book starts with a description of Jesus' simple childhood and goes on to describe his nomadic dissatisfied way of life in adulthood.  The book retells some of the events and parables in the Bible from different points of view and with a very different interpretation, which makes the book very interesting.  The writing is very good and although the characters are at times a little confused this is understandable given that the novel challenges the accepted roles of Jesus and his contemporaries.  I particularly enjoyed the focus on the relationship between Jesus and his mother which gave real emotion to this book.  I found this very interesting and an enjoyable read but I imagine it would be offensive to anybody deeply religious.