The Jewish community of Aleppo in Syria, the biblical Aram Soba is one of the world's most ancient, guardian of the famous Keter Torah scroll, and boasting a synagogue dating back to the Second Temple.

In this collection of three tales, the central novella, The Wheel Turns Full Circle, is a rare gem. Sabato interlaces the history of one family with the social and political turmoil spanning over a century; it pivots around an heirloom, a Hanukkah lamp that has made its way into the Louvre. Broken Tablets is an elegy to the lost generation of pious scholars from the Sephardic communities who immigrated to Israel in the 1950s. Truth from the Earth shall Spring explores the mystery of a rare manuscript whose existence has been suppressed for generations after a tragic death in the family.

A master of Hebrew ancient and modern, Sabato has been hailed as Agnon's successor. Philip Simpson's translation from the originally entitled Emet Mi Eretz Titzmach lifts a veil on a lost world, letting us glimpse the courtly nuances of communal rituals in this bygone era.