Combining history, fable, theology, and myth, these nine stories, by turns magical and mundane, comic and tragic, are remarkable for the breadth of their concerns and the depth of their vision. A mysterious woman searching for an impossible gem in Manhattan's diamond district; ancient ruins that might be the birthplace of god; a university library that catalogues human evil. Melvin Bukiet chronicles the lives of Jews in America, past and present, in stories that are at once contemporary and timeless.