Gaspar is the lord of Jexal, one of the most beautiful and prosperous cities in the world. Impractical, innocent and single-minded, he sets out. Despite his great age, he becomes determined to head west, into unknown country, in search of a child, due to be born somewhere near a town said to be called Jerusalem. Elderly master and aged slave are on the verge of starvation when Melchior glimpses something extraordinary – a new star, which brings omens and prophecies which disturb him deeply. With all his heart fixed on the skies, he barely notices the things of this world, such as his mutely adoring slave Senya, or their rapidly dwindling supplies.

Melchior is a scholar trained at Pyongyang University in Korea: a passionate astronomer, who has exhausted his sizable inheritance by building a magnificent observatory from which he can observe the heavens. Most intriguing is Lofts’s vision of the three wise men, who between them span the three known continents of the ancient world. It’s a thoughtful, rich rendition of the Nativity story, in which the familiar events of the bible are set within their historical context at the turn of the 1st century AD. The plan was to finish it last night, on Christmas Day, but what with the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special, and the satiety brought on by too much Christmas pudding, I didn’t quite get round to it.

I discovered this book during a pre-Christmas exploration of the Book Barn, a few miles from where I live, and decided it was perfect for the festive season.

How far to bethlehem by norah lofts