THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO WANDA B. LAZARUS, a novel

413pp., paperback, Cape Town, 2020

“The Gospel According to Wanda B. Lazarus is just what the world needs now. Draw a line through The Odyssey, The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales, Don Quixote, Gargantua, The Flying Dutchman and The Confederacy of Dunces, sprinkle over all with good kosher salt and you only scratch the surface of this big, bountiful novel. A fizzing, fulsome and fiercely funny heroine, and a novel that is charged with music, energy, bounce, juice and joy.” Stephen Fry, author of Mythos and Heroes: mortals and monsters, quests and adventures

“Yentl meets Back to the Future, with a hundred characters, a thousand gags, and – most importantly – the music of the spheres.” Diane Awerbuck, author of Home Remedies

“The Gospel According to Wanda B. Lazarus is a unique and significant contribution to South African letters, contemporary Jewish literation and feminist comedic writing … a superb comic novel. A Rabelaisian romp that provides a unique and entirely original take on important episodes and locations in the long history of the Jewish diaspora. I can think of no other character in South African fiction who is anything like Wanda B. Lazarus.” Prof Neville Hoad, University of Austin, Texas

Lynn Joffe writes series and scripts for radio and TV as CEO and ECD of Creatrix, a multilingual storytelling and branded content agency. The Gospel According to Wanda B. Lazarus is her first novel.