Suvarnabhumi: Journey to the Golden Land: A novel about the early Church in Thailand

In the year 550 A.D., in the heart of the Persian Empire, Caspar, an ordinary Christian merchant, has a dream and a strange encounter with men from the Golden Land. A chain of events launches Caspar and his cousin Rafael on a dangerous journey across the sea to a foreign kingdom. Sent by the Patriarch of the Church of the East in Seleucia (now Baghdad), Caspar and Rafael travel to bring the Gospel to a land the ancients called Suvarnabhumi, the Golden Land (the land we now call Thailand.) This is a story not yet told, the lost history of Christianity in the East. This is a novel, but it is based on actual historical events, battles, emperors and people. Several of the characters in this novel are based on real individuals who lived and died during the sixth century before the rise of Islam.Most people do not know the history of the Christian Church in the East. From the time St. Thomas landed in India in 52 A.D., the Christian church has sent missionaries east to Asia. When Catholics landed in Asia in the 1500's they found the Christian church already established in India, in China and in Southeast Asia. This is the story of a family that sacrificed everything to bring the story of Jesus to the people of a land we now call Thailand.