Synopses & Reviews
In 1601, an English traveler sets off into the unknown to discover the East. Leaving behind a wife and children, he journeys to Alexandria, overland to Cairo and then to Gaza, encountering plots against his life and racing camels along the way. But Henry Timberlake then meets a companion who will change his life. A Moroccan Moor on his way to Mecca saves Timberlake's life, not once, but twice, and they become friends and travelling companions as the Moor detours to join the explorer in his voyage of discovery. In this fascinating true story of a seventeenth-century adventurer, Joan Taylor explores the relationship between East and West, Islam and Christianity at the foundation of the modern world. She provides a vivid picture of Jerusalem and the old Middle East at the time of the Ottoman Empire, and brings to life the true tale of friendship between two very different people whose paths happened to cross on the road to adventure.
Synopsis
In 1601, an Englishman named Henry Timberlake sails off into the unknown to trade with Egypt. Leaving behind a wife and children, he journeys to Alexandria and overland to Cairo. Here he finds he cannot sell his stock and, on a whim, he does the unexpected: he makes a dealth-defying journey to Gaza and to Jerusalem, encountering terrifying threats against his life and racing camels along the way. In this journey Henry Timberlake meets a Muslim who will amaze him. A Moroccan Moor on his way to Mecca saves Timberlake's life, not once, but twice; they become travelling companions as the Moor detours to join Timberlake in his voyage of discovery.
The tale of how a Moor befriends an English sea captain in the time of Shakespeare, Drake and Raleigh is set in a larger story-that of Muslims and Christians and the way they related in an era just before our own. Timberlake would eventually return to London and turn his attention to America, becoming one of the first landowners in Virginia, but his travels in the Holy Land-published in 1603-remain an astonishing tale of adventure, religious differences, compassion and discovery. Henry Timberlake is not a pious pilgrim, but a businessman and a sea captain with the eyes of the modern world. His experiences resound with significance for today.
In this fascinating true story of an Elizabethan adventurer, Joan Taylor not only traces the journey of a remarkable man but explores the relationship between East and West, and between Islam and Christianity, at the foundation of the modern world. She provides a vivid picture of Jerusalem at the time of the Ottoman Empire and a tale of fellowship between two very different people whose paths happened to cross.
About the Author
Joan Taylor is an Anglo-Danish New Zealander now living in England. She is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Waikato, New Zealand and gained her PhD at Edinburgh University in Early Church/Jewish Studies. In 1995 she won the coveted Irene Levi-Sala Award for her book Christians and the Holy Places.