As the 19th century began, religious people of all persuasions drew strength from the writings of their Faiths, such as the Bible and the Qur’án. But there was another aspect of these ancient Books which had preoccupied and intrigued people for millennia: the prophecies. These promised not only a time of renewal, but also the appearance of a redemptive figure who would enable that renewal to flourish; and those studying them believed that the time was close, very close.

Expectations gripped the hearts of believers on both sides of the Atlantic and in the Middle East, and before long they were being swept along on a mounting tide of anticipation. As the era of Adventism was born, hundreds of thousands of people watched – and waited.

The three men featured in this book lived on three different continents, and although they never met, two of them came tantalisingly close when their paths crossed in the Middle East. William Miller, Joseph Wolff and Mullá Husayn were their names.