Two gentlemen are far from home in this new novel by accomplished writer Michael Chabon. One, Zelikman, is Frankish and a skilled physician. The other, Amram, was originally from Africa but has spent many years as a soldier serving various rulers. Both are brave, daring, and con artists.

We first meet them as they engineer a fight between themselves, having bets placed on the outcome.

Zelikman is upset because Amram has damaged his hat as part of the fake fight. His hat is almost as precious to him as his horse (which, by the way, he had stolen some time ago.) As they argue about it, a mahout who has observed the battle offers them a reward if they will help him convey his young charge to safety. The elephants of the ruler had died of a sickness, and this calamity enabled a usurper to gain dominance and have the family killed or enslaved. Only the young Filaq has escaped, and the mahout plans to take him to his grandfather.

The adventure begins as the mahout is killed, and the new party of three must fleethe men of the tavern (where they had provided the dubious entertainment) and the much more dangerous pursuers of Filaq. The time is about A.D. 950, the place the fabled kingdom of Kazaria, home of the wild red-haired Jews. In spite of appearances, both of our gentlemen are Jewish, and they are intrigued by the idea of such a land.

Unfortunately, their new companion does not want to be rescued. He seems to think that he can take care of himself, again in spite of evidence to the contrary. And we're off. The trio is separated and reunited several times, always with Filaq cursing and unappreciative. In one of his escapes, he is captured by a small force, but rescued by his intrepid guardians. Many times he must be rescued, though at least once the situation is beyond even the gentlemen's trickery and bravado.

Michael Chabon is a Pulitzer Prize winner for a previous novel. His books are varied, his style appropriate for the type he is writing. In this it is swashbuckling and suspenseful. There is terrain to be conquered, seriously bad villains, even a remaining elephant to enlist. The main characters are complex and unusual. Chabon makes them believable if not lovable. The reader hopes for their success but does not count on it.

The atmosphere conveys danger. When we meet a possible fourth companion, "All that remained of the temple, reared by Alexander during his failed conquest of Caucasia and affiantnow to that failure and to the ruin of his gods, was a windworn pedestal and the candle stub of a fluted column, against which a would-be ruffiannamed Hanukkah sat propped with his right hand over the wound in his sizable belly, as he had sat for two long days and nights, waiting with mounting impatience for the angel of death."

If you are ready for a good adventure novel, Gentlemen of the Road is available at the Mary Willis Library.