I had liked Brooks' other books (Nine Parts of Desire and Year of Wonder) so I was excited to see that she had written another. This book was probably my favorite by her and one of the most engaging book I've read in a long time. The book is about a famous illustrated manuscript known as the Sarajevo Hagaddah. (Interestingly, the Sarajevo Hagaddah really does exist, although the rest of the book is fictionalized.) The book opens with a well-known ancient book restoration expert being called to Sarajevo to look at a Hagaddah that is rumored to be a particular ancient illustrated Hagaddah. Brooks uses her journalistic background and skill in storytelling to imagine a history of the Hagaddah reaching back to the 1400s. Each time the main character learns something new about the Hagaddah, the books goes back 100 years further into the past to learn where the Hagaddah started.
I really enjoyed the stories and main character's personality. It was also fun to read this book with Passover coming up.
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