The Dream of Scipio' is an excellent historical novel which portrays
             a gripping account of three protagonists each placed in a different time
             frame. The whole plot is woven around the theme of the horrendous crimes
             that are committed by mankind as civilization succumbs to the dark periods
             of each era. The pitiable plight of the Jews is neatly bought to the fore
             by the author. Particularly the author has projected a clear picture of the
             loss of discriminating capacity that results from religious prejudice.
             Manlius (fifth century), Oliver de Noyen (fifteenth century) and Julien
             Barneuve (20th century) are the three main characters who are affected by
             the disintegration of society and the upsurge of religious intolerance.
             Pears recounts how Judaism has been the target in all these three
             periods of civilian unrest and how the rise of Christianity has led to the
             gradual alienation of the Jews and as to how the politics within the papacy
             brewed religious opportunism. The whole religious setup was plagued by
             corruption to such an extent that even the Popes, the cardinals, and the so
             called leaders of Christian faith contemplated on exterminating a whole
             group of people (Jews) with a view to political gains. The whole novel is
             actually a learning process with the distilled wisdom of Sophia, the
             philosopher influencing and shaping the lives of the three protagonists
             We find that the Jews were discriminated throughout the history ever
             since the Roman era when Christianity became the main religion. The
             insistence on conversion has been so strong right from the Roman period.
             The loss of intellectual thinking and the discriminatory capacity is
             obvious as the Jews were incessantly targeted by the Christendom. In the
             novel we find that Oliver De Noyen discovers for himself that the higher
             officials of the Christian faith are more interested in religious
             ...