ASHER LEVINE believes in the Messiah. Not an idealistic impostor who was born of a virgin 2000 years ago, but a great politician who could come at any time. And Asher believes his job is to make the path smooth, the crooked places straight. He will be the Messiah’s mentor, guide and discoverer. He is Britain’s secular prophet. For years he sees Jonathan as his Messiah, with his weak-minded younger cousin Zachariah as his herald, but when Jonathan dies he wants to create a replacement.
Asher’s creative in bed and at work – and that’s about it. He doesn’t waste imagination on anything else, like conversation or events or leisure. He pours all his energy into his legacy, and views love as a distraction. Asher is completely decorous in public life, but he is an epicure – he loves exquisite food and exquisite women, but only if they belong to him. He has a horror of fathering a bastard, which he would see as weakening his line.
After the tragedy of his first wife’s and unborn child’s death in his late 20s, Asher is determined to be in control of every situation and person in his life, and this resolution will prove his downfall.
