The Last Ember

book · Riverhead · 2009

By Daniel Levin

Sourced from New York Times · Indexed 2026

A gripping literary thriller about the highstakes search for the legendary Tabernacle Menorah, a priceless historical artifact stolen from the Second Temple in Jerusalem two thousand years ago and never recovered.Jonathan Marcus was a promising young archeologist studying at the American Academy in Rome when a terrible accident during an illegal excavation resulted in a friend's death and Jonathan's expulsion from the academy. Jonathan abandoned archaeology for the law, developing a reputation as a skillful advocate for some of the art world's less scrupulous antiquities dealers.When his firm sends Jonathan to Rome to discredit the testimony of a prominent U.N. antiquities official, he's stunned to discover that the expert is Dr. Emili Travia, a friend and fellow student at the academy who was also at the excavation. This chance reunion prompts Jonathan, against his better judgment, to help Emili as she searches for the fabled Tabernacle Menorah, a priceless...