My aunt has given me several books where the book is the almost parallel lives of a modern historian and a person in history, almost totally female perspective (because my aunt is editor to almost exclusively female authors, but that is something else.) Covid has made it so she can't go into the office and thus can't send me more books, so I actually had to go looking for something to read.
I stumbled across this book called The Weight of Ink that follows that same parallel structure. I'm enjoying it, but it is also seriously challenging me. It is a National Jewish Book Award winner, and the history involved is dense 1650's stuff with references to philosophers and Jewish culture I just have no experience with. I'm having to pause and google for context to grasp what is so significant.