Simon Sebag Montefiore tells Stephen Jewell about writing ‘the greatest story ever told’ and why the history of Jerusalem is the story of the world.
For Simon Sebag Montefiore, all roads really do lead to Jerusalem. All his life, the London-born 45-year-old has been building up to chronicling the turbulent and eventful story of the Israeli capital.
His great-great-uncle, Sir Moses Montefiore, a wealthy Victorian philanthropist, invested in several charitable projects in the city in the late 1800s, most notably the Montefiore Windmill, which provided Jews with the means to bake their own bread. He also chose his family motto, "Jerusalem", which is inscribed on the signet ring that Montefiore proudly wears.
"I've been going there regularly since I was child, when I used to run through the streets," he recalls over coffee in the library of his Kensington home. "In many ways this is the book that I've always wanted to write. I almost feel that it was my destiny to write it."
Montefiore spent three gruelling years completing Jerusalem, a mammoth effort that almost proved too much for him. "Writing this book almost killed me," he admits. "It's an incredibly ambitious project and the most difficult thing I've ever done. I fear that it is the work of my lifetime. I've put everything I've learnt about writing, researching, scholarship and storytelling into it."
At nearly 600 pages long, Jerusalem is a dauntingly hefty tome, although Montefiore insists that its length is actually quite short considering that it spans 3000 years and "just about everything is in there". He was also careful to ensure that it would have general appeal and was not aimed solely at academics.
"I've written it in a totally new way," he says. "No one has ever written a book about Jerusalem like this before. I've broken it up into very small sections, so it's very easy to read. It's meant to be read by anybody and not just experts. It's about the people who made Jerusalem and all the great characters that you know from history are in there, from Churchill to Caligula, Christ to Mohammed, David Lloyd George to Suleiman the Magnificent. In a way, it's the greatest story ever told. It's just a great saga and if you're interested in the great themes of history and religion and all the great conflicts, then it's all in there. It's meant to be a page-turner but I'll let other people be the judge of that."
Already on to its fifth printing since being published in Britain at the end of January, Jerusalem has definitely found an audience.
"With all my books, I sweat blood to make them readable," he says. "Anyone can write an unreadable book, it's much harder to write a book that's readable and my previous books on Stalin and Catherine the Great were written to be read by anybody. With this book, I've had every section checked by great experts and professors in each discipline, whether it's the bits about the Babylonians or the Ottomans. If you enjoy a great story then you're going to enjoy this book. From sex to fanaticism, slaughter and empire, it's all in there."
According to Montefiore, the most crucial element of any city is its populace. "This book has a lot about religion, architecture, art and literature, but it's really the story of the people who made Jerusalem," he says.
"Some of them were emperors or empresses, some of them were conquerors, whores, prophets or saints, and some of them were Arabs, Jews, Americans or Turks."
While he is open about his Jewish heritage, Jerusalem is intended to appeal to readers of all faiths and ethnicities.
"I don't judge any of the revelations of any of the religions," says Montefiore. "If you're going to write about Jerusalem, there's no point taking a viciously anti- religious stance or making fun of any of the religions. Funnily enough I did a signing last night and a group of nuns came along. They'd all read the book and they said that they loved the approach that it takes even though it is a secular approach. So you'll enjoy this whether you're a Catholic, a Muslim or a Jew."
Montefiore explores the central role that Jerusalem plays in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
"It's in the crosshairs of almost every great conflict that's happening in the world today including democracy vs tyranny, secularism vs fundamentalism, Iran vs America and Palestine vs Israel," he says. "It's where Judgment Day will happen in all three of the Abrahamic religions. In a way, the story of Jerusalem is the story of the world."
The Bible is also a significant touchstone. "That's another biography of Jerusalem and it's an important part of the story," says Montefiore. "One of the reasons why I wanted to write this book is that we all feel like we own Jerusalem, even if we're the most secular of people. It's very easy for us if we're sitting in Auckland, London, New York or Paris to feel that it's slightly absurd that so many people feel that Judgment Day is about to happen.
"I don't call Jerusalem the Holy City, I call it the Universal City and this book is also for atheists who want to know why Jerusalem is so central to the Middle East today."
Beginning with the Canaanites in pre-Christian times, Jerusalem concludes over two millennia later with the Six-Day War in 1967. "I stop the minute-by-minute narrative then but the book actually goes right up to Barack Obama and Binyamin Netanyahu," says Montefiore, who also mentions recent developments in Egypt in the most recent editions. "I've updated it to include all the latest events but with a book like this there's no point updating it every five minutes. But it covers everything up to now. The events in Egypt haven't directly affected Jerusalem yet but they will do."
As demonstrated by recent developments in Egypt and Libya - which erupted into chaos a week after our meeting - social networking sites have had a profound impact upon the political systems of the Middle East. "I write about that in the book, as Jerusalem has become even more important in the age of Facebook and Twitter," says Montefiore. "But many of the conspiracy theories and myths about Jerusalem, which are rubbish, have been amplified by the new media. This book goes from King David right up to Twitter."
Montefiore maintains that there is a widespread misunderstanding about the roots of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
"There is an ignorance that comes from over-familiarity, where we think that we know all about it but we don't really," he says. "If you read it, you'll see that the history of the last 2000 years in this book is a very even-handed history. Of course, I come from a Jewish family that has played a big role in Jerusalem. The Montefiores were key in building the new city of Jerusalem but they were also key in campaigning against Zionism in 1917, so my family take on all sorts of different roles in the book.
"In many ways, the book is a family saga. It's not really about my family, who have a very minor role in it. It's about the great Palestinian families, who play a huge role as do the great dynasties like the Herods and the Maccabees and of course the British royal family."
Montefiore touches on Britain's almost utopian vision of Jerusalem, which is best summed by William Blake's 19th century poem of the same name. Put to music by Sir Hubert Parry in 1916, it has since become a sporting anthem that is regularly sung at cricket matches and rugby games.
"For centuries, we've felt that Jerusalem is British," says Montefiore, who claims to be a storyteller at heart. "With Jerusalem, if you don't tell it as a story, no one will read it. The reason why this book has become a best-seller over here is that people love to read and they want a story that's exciting."
Montefiore hasn't welcomed the undue attention that has been placed on his personal life. His wife, Santa Montefiore, the sister of British socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, has described Prince Charles as an 'honorary godfather'. He and Camilla were guests at their wedding while Kate Middleton was at Montefiore's last book launch. He is coy about whether he has been invited to the upcoming royal nuptials, telling the Evening Standard "she's such a nice girl". He also counts Prime Minister David Cameron, Chancellor George Osborne and Education Secretary Michael Gove among his friends.
"Newspapers sometimes write about who we know but that's actually irrelevant," he says. "I live or die by my reputation as a writer and I want respect for what I've written. I've never promoted myself like that and I'm not very interested in who people know. As you can see, these are all my foreign editions from different countries," he continues, gesturing to the books that surround us. "All I care about is the work, so judge me by that."
Montefiore insists that he and fellow author Santa live very ordinary lives.
"She works upstairs and I work down here," he says. "We just write away and hope that people will buy our books and like them. If they do, then that's enough. I'm very fortunate to live as a writer. Writing is a very unsteady profession and you never know what's going to happen. It could all go wrong at any minute but somehow it suits me. I'm kind of unemployable in a proper job. I've always lived on the edge and on my wits. All writers are the same, whether they're authors or journalists. We're all wanderers and outsiders. I love the feeling that I'm part of a cottage industry. It's like a musician's life."
Labelling Britain's class structure "preposterous," he is in favour of New Zealand's more egalitarian society.
"That's one of the reasons why I love coming out because nobody cares about that kind of thing over there and New Zealanders just judge you for yourself," he says.
"Funnily enough, my novel Sashanka did really well in New Zealand and I'm currently working on a sequel, so I hope New Zealanders will enjoy it. I love New Zealand. I toured there a few years ago and had a great time. I found it to be the most charming and delightful country. It's a shame that it's so far away."
He also appreciates the messages that Kiwis send him on Facebook.
"It's really changed writers' lives," he says. "It used to be that you'd just get a few posted letters mostly from elderly people who wrote by hand on lined paper but every day now I get three or four emails from all over the world from people who are reading my books in Portuguese and other languages."
He reveals few details about the forthcoming follow-up to his 2008 début novel, which centred around an idealistic young socialite whose life is forever altered by the Russian Revolution.
"It's set in 1945 in Moscow and it's about a family and a high school in Stalin's Russia," he says, admitting that he is thriving on the change of pace after the exhausting toil of Jerusalem. "Fiction is like a freedom and a treat for me as the histories are a huge burden and are very stressful."
He is just as unforthcoming about the upcoming cinematic adaptation of Young Stalin, which is scripted by Shallow Grave/ Trainspotting screenwriter John Hodge. "There's an amazingly famous director attached and I'm hoping that Johnny Depp will play Stalin," he says, picking up a copy of his 2008 biography to point out the physical resemblance between the Pirates of the Caribbean actor and the late Soviet dictator.
"I hope it's going to happen very soon. I've got a meeting with the whole production team and it's been green-lighted, so it's very exciting. Stalin lead such an adventurous life that it's going to be perfect for the movies. It'll be like Butch Cassidy set in the Caucasus."
Jerusalem by Simon Sebag Montefiore (Weidenfeld & Nicolson RRP $60), on sale now.
