This novel traces the history of an illuminated Haggadah archived in Sarajevo. The her‮io‬ne, Hanna Heath, is an Aussie and a book conservator extraordinaire. Hanna is an intel‮el‬ctual sleuth that uses modern scientific technology along with a vivid imagination to create a provenance for this unique codex. Some of the flashbacks revealing the Haggadah's travels through time totally absorb the reader, others seem contrived. I was often reminded of James Michener's, Centennial; just as I was starting to really care about the characters the segment came to an end and a new group of protagonists introduced. However, the research needed to create these scenes was prodigious and the result most e‮gn‬aging.