In the desert near Jericho, a man lies dying. He and his wife had been with a caravan of traders, many of them relatives. But when they realised the man was seriously ill, the rest of the caravans moved on, and even stole some of the man's meagre possessions.

The man's (Musa) wife, Miri, had spent the night at her husband's side, but, realising he was at death's door, left him and went to dig a grave. Maybe too she did not want to stay near him as he died. He was not a loving husband and his death would set her free.

Meanwhile, a group of people arrive. They are a loose group, not really connected to each other. They comprise a non-Jew, an old man dying of cancer, unusually a woman who had not succeeded in getting pregnant and a rather flighty person. And Jesus.

Each one intends to spend quarantine, 40 days of penance, fasting and solitude. Each chooses a cave from the many that dot the area.

But then, things start to happen; not how they were expected to. To say more would be to detract from the enjoyment of the book.

Charles Flores' translation is a very good one that translates Crace's fiction beautifully.

Quarantine was judged Whitbread Novel of 1998 and a second Crace novel, Harvest, won the 2015 International Dublin Literary Award, the 2013 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the 2013 Booker Prize.