When old documents are discovered in a seventeenth century London home, aging academic Helen Watt begins the arduous work of assessing them. Aided by combative assistant Aaron Levy, she soon learns that these papers conceal a profound secret: They were written by a Jewish woman who carried on an enlightened correspondence with Baruch Spinoza and other great minds of the day. Vast in historical scope, this masterful novel is a remarkable feat of characterization, enlivened at every turn by the relationship between its two leads and the mystery of the woman they're pursuing.