MacArthur-winning poet and translator Peter Cole and acclaimed essayist Adina Hoffman tell the story of the retrieval from an Egyptian geniza—a repository for worn-out texts—of the most vital cache of Jewish manuscripts ever discovered. Presenting a panoramic view of nine hundred years of vibrant Mediterranean Judaism, Hoffman and Cole bring modern readers into the heart of this little know trove, whose contents have rightly been dubbed “the Living Sea Scrolls,” and the adventurous characters who revealed its depth. A gripping tale of adventure and redemption.