Synopsis

Martin of Gfenn is a work of historical fiction, the story of a young artist named Martin living in Zürich in the mid-thirteenth century. When he is nineteen, Martin contracts leprosy. He fights physical deterioration and social stigma to do what he believes he was meant to do – paint fresco. His short journey takes him from the streets of a swiftly growing Zürich to a small enclave of the Knights of Saint Lazarus, in the village of Gfenn. The story is inspiring; its philosophical focus is Christ’s teachings from the perspective of Martin whose leprosy, youth, passion for painting and education have conspired to make him an early-day Christian humanist.