As a way of connecting with his dying father, Aldo Cazzullo picks up the Bible and rediscovers an illuminating book that "speaks of us," and whose legacy of storytelling formed our modern world

Until a few generations ago, people of the Western world believed they lived under the watchful eye of God. His existence was as certain as that of the rising sun, and quoting passages and verse from the Bible was common. But that familiarity with the Bible is no longer a mainstay of contemporary life. For Aldo Cazzullo, it isn’t until he finds himself sitting by his dying father’s bed that he revisits the Bible, connecting with both a beloved believer and the text itself. While recognizing its spiritual and religious value, above all he is astounded by the extraordinary power of its storytelling.

Beginning with the Creation, Cazzullo takes us through key stories of the Old Testament, from that of Jacob’s ladder to Moses and the Pharoah, and from those of its great women—including Judith, Jael, and Esther, who, by killing an evil man or by having him killed, saved millions of just people—to the triumphant ode to love that is the Song of Solomon, all the while mining them for their beauty, insights, and mysteries. Never failing to connect these stories to the present day, The God of Our Fathers brings readers on an exciting and illuminating journey to the roots of Western culture and identity, revealing the Bible as a stunning literary achievement that contains the full breadth of the human experience.

Translated from the Italian by Sylvia Notini