The Edel­stein fam­i­ly is immi­grat­ing to Israel, but before they leave, Ephraim’s grand­fa­ther gives him a jew­el and a rid­dle to solve. He hides the jew­el in his coat, and as they trav­el, he pon­ders the rid­dle. When pirates threat­en in the Black Sea, the group must stop in Bul­gar­ia. Dur­ing their escape, their mon­ey is lost, so Ephraim’s father must ask a mer­chant to bor­row a horse and wag­on, for which the mer­chant demands pay­ment. By this point, Ephraim has fig­ured out that the jew­el is a sap­phire, which he gives to the mer­chant in exchange for the horse and wag­on. As the fam­i­ly reach­es Con­stan­tino­ple, the mer­chant meets them and returns the jew­el, real­iz­ing how unfair­ly he has treat­ed the fam­i­ly. They arrive in Israel, and Ephraim sees that it has been more than a phys­i­cal jour­ney: he has matured and helped his fam­i­ly achieve their goal. This his­tor­i­cal fic­tion is based on accounts of a group that left Rus­sia in 1809. The maps includ­ed are excel­lent in pro­vid­ing per­spec­tive on the dis­tance and chal­lenges of such a trip. There is a glos­sary, as well as bio­graph­i­cal notes, an author’s note, and a his­to­ry of Shklov. The Edel­stein fam­i­ly is Ortho­dox, so many cus­toms and rit­u­als are includ­ed, as well as Bib­li­cal ref­er­ences as Ephraim tries to solve the rid­dle. The jour­ney through exot­ic places and the tra­vails of the fam­i­ly may appeal to non- Ortho­dox read­ers as well. Ages 9 – 12, espe­cial­ly Ortho­dox boys.