Eleven-year-old Eliza Naumann is the only "ordinary" member in a family of gifted people living in Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Saul, who has tried to reach God, first through drugs and then through study, becomes convinced that Eliza's talent shows a propensity for mysticism greater than his, which has the potential to lead her to shefa, the influx of the Divine.

He gradually introduces her to the writings of Abraham Abulafia, a Medieval kabbalist writer, and it becomes clear that his ambitions for her go far beyond the winning of the spelling bee.

With the other members of her family preoccupied, Miriam's obsession takes a new turn when she finds herself entering people's houses and stealing small objects from them.

"[1] Dwight Garner of The New York Times called it "a dispassionate, fervidly intelligent book ... that comes by its emotion honestly" and described it as Kaaterskill Falls meets American Beauty.

[3] Reviewers have commented on how the book begins on a simple note (girl unexpectedly wins a school contest), and later moves into dark territory (family falls apart).

The band's frontman and songwriter Colin Meloy served as a guide for Goldberg when her book tour for Bee Season visited Portland, Oregon.