It is late in the 4^th century AD and Zachary, a young Greek from Alexandria, has decided to become a hermit in Derek Bickerton’s The Desert and the City. 

Spurned in love, Zachary ventures to the fringe of the desert to join a colony of Christians to live a life of pious reflection.

At the colony, Zachary learns from a fascinating mix of individuals who help him take his first steps on the road to spiritual perfection. But an untimely return to Alexandria to join in an attack on a pagan temple pulls him off course, and he falls victim to anger, drunkenness and lechery.

Agonized with remorse for his sins, Zachary sets out alone into the deepest desert to wager his very life against his hope of salvation.  

Says author Derek Bickerton, “I was amazed to find that these early Christian hermits were totally unlike the fanatical, saint-on-a-pillar stereotype of desert hermits that I had previously held—they were very pragmatic, surprisingly tolerant, and possessed a dry and biting sense of humor.”

About the Author

Derek Bickerton is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University of Hawaii. He is author of Language and Species, Bastard Tongues and several other widely-praised books on language, as well as four novels. He lives on the North Shore of Oahu. Volumes 2 and 3 of The Commandment Trilogy are forthcoming.