In the late 16th Century, Rabbi Jehudah Loew, in order to guarantee the safety of the Jews in Prague, tries to make a Golem with the aid of a 3rd-century Kabbalist text. Four hundred years later, Victor Werker, a biologist, causes an international uproar when he creates in his laboratory a complex clay crystal that can reproduce and has a metabolism. He has, in effect, manufactured a primitive organism out of inorganic materials. We learn of Victor's life after this discovery as he starts new research and is pursued by his own inner and outer demons.

In this elegantly written and immaculately constructed story of two men who suffer similar punishments for their hubris, one of Europe's greatest living writers attempts nothing less than to unravel the structure and meaning of man's being.

Harry Mulisch is the author of a number of internationally bestselling novels, including The Assault, the film of which won the 1987 Oscar for Best Foreign Film, and The Discovery of Heaven.

Prague, 16th century. On the orders of the Emperor, two rabbis set to work to make a human being, a so-called golem, from lumps of clay and using mysterious formulae from the Talmud. If they are successful, the Emperor will guarantee the safety of the Jewish population of Prague...Present day. Victor Werker is a Dutch scientist of international repute, creator of the 'eobiont', a form of life born from inorganic matter, using a DNA modelling technique. Werker's personal life is a disaster, but when he intercepts a secret communication between a contract killer and the killer's employer, his situation becomes far, far worse.

2002-01-24 Very disappointing.

I picked this up after "Discovery of Heaven" which is one of my favourite books ever. I found this very disappointing in comparison. Whilst there are two stories here, one of them is over in the first chapter and the other drags on to a rather inconclusive ending with far too many loose ends for my liking.