How Far to Bethlehem?

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From the remote corners of the ancient world came a strange and ill-assorted band of travelers ... Melchior, the ascetic scholar from Asia-Caspar, the barbarian, more accustomed to horses than to people...and Balthazar, the eunuch slave who had escaped from a cruel and vicious mistress. Through hazardous and violent country they journeyed on, led by the visionary Melchior, each of them consumed with their private torments. And not until they reached Judea a turbulent land where Greek, Jew and Roman lived together in an uneasy peace were their dreams and fears resolved... With backgrounds varying from the simple village life of Nazareth, to the barbarian court of Caspar in Jexal, Norah Lofts has created a fascinating and compassionate story of Israel in the year of the Nativity. Here, retold, is the story of Mary and Joseph, of the innkeeper and shepherds, of the turmoil and passion that was the Holy Land under Roman domination. And here, above all, is the story of the three travelers from the east--men in conflict with each other, and with themselves—each searching for something—something they would only discover on a starry night in Bethlehem...