This beautiful and playful collection of short essays describes the author's encounters with 34 different species, ranging from praying mantis to mountain lion, peregrine falcon to red-spotted toad. Clearly the product of patient and precise observation, each narrative is written with deep respect and sensitivity, humor and wonder.
This historical novel is built upon the meager collection of fact and probability surrounding an ancient Hebrew illuminated manuscript, the Sarajevo Haggadah. Rare book conservator Hannah Heath finds several artifacts while rebinding this newly rediscovered codex; analysis of each artifact becomes the focal point for a series of vignettes, windows into the Haggadah's past that are rich in historical detail and emotional intensity, tracing its journey backwards in time to its creation in the mid-1400s. With a relatively few deft strokes, the author has fleshed out the skeleton of known fact and brought into clear focus the imaginary 'people of the book'--those who created it, used it, and protected it over the centuries. This is a gripping, often eye-opening book, with a very vivid cast of characters.
