That the life of Christ is one of the best known in history has not prevented many writers from trying to portray it in fiction. At first sight, C.K. Stead's seems one of the more conventional. No Lawrentian mysticism for him as his account sticks to the story as it appears in the Bible — with one important shift of emphasis.

For this is the gospel according to Judas Iscariot, envisaged 40 years after the events that led to Jesus's Crucifixion, and in which Judas himself allegedly played so unedifying a role. In this version, however, Judas did not commit suicide but escaped to resume the old life he had lived before he fell under the influence of the charismatic Galilean. Now a prosperous septuagenarian, he looks back on his boyhood friendship with Jesus, and their later estrangement. His only desire, he says, is to set the record straight — to undo the damage done to his reputation by years of falsehoods. And that is what he proceeds to do. For while adhering to facts on which all accounts agree, Judas's narrative subtly alters their significance. No, he was never a traitor — he was only concerned that Jesus might be getting a bit above himself. Yes, there were 30 pieces of silver — but they were given to him to purchase food and lodgings, not as blood money... and so on.

It is brilliantly done, and in the end, quite subversive — a retelling that impels one to turn again to the original.

My Name Was Judas by C.K. Stead
Vintage, £7.99

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