People of the Book: A Novel
The bestselling novel that follows a rare manuscript through centuries of exile and war, from the author of The Secret Chord and of March, winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
Inspired by a true story, People of the Book is a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity by an acclaimed and beloved author. Called "a tour de force" by the San Francisco Chronicle, this ambitious, electrifying work traces the harrowing journey of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, a beautifully illuminated Hebrew manuscript created in fifteenth-century Spain. When it falls to Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, to conserve this priceless work, the series of tiny artifacts she discovers in its ancient binding--an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair--only begin to unlock its deep mysteries and unexpectedly plunges Hanna into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultranationalist fanatics.
Inspired by a true story, People of the Book is a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity by an acclaimed and beloved author. Called "a tour de force" by the San Francisco Chronicle, this ambitious, electrifying work traces the harrowing journey of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, a beautifully illuminated Hebrew manuscript created in fifteenth-century Spain. When it falls to Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, to conserve this priceless work, the series of tiny artifacts she discovers in its ancient binding--an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair--only begin to unlock its deep mysteries and unexpectedly plunges Hanna into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultranationalist fanatics.
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Community Reviews
Hanna Heath is an expert in rare books. While she enjoys the solitary and clinical nature of her work, she becomes unexpectedly caught up with the mysterious past of the Sarajevo Hagaddah, a jewel among rare books and notable for its astonishingly fine illustrations, which were all but unknown in Hagaddahs in the 15th Century. Based on clinical examinations of its pages, including ancient salt residue, the DNA of a feather, and ancient dyes, Heath estimates that the hagaddah's provenance dates back to 1492 in Spain, just prior to the Jews' expulsion from that land.
She becomes romantically involved with a colleague while working to prepare the Hagaddah for public display, but more than that, Heath becomes emotionally involved in the dramatic history of the Hagaddah itself. Heath is an unaffiliated Jew, but wonders about the journey this artistically rendered piece of Jewish history must have traveled through the ages. Geraldine Brooks does a masterful job of intertwining Heath's modern-day study of the hagaddah and her personal relationships with a former teacher, the colleague who becomes a love interest, and her cold and aloof mother, a successful surgeon who has hidden the truth to Hanna about the identity of her own father, a mystery that also slowly becomes solved during the course of the book.
Brooks' dramatized renderings of how the hagaddah may have passed from hand to hand, from a Jewish family in Sarajevo during World War II all the way back to Seville in 1480, are finely drawn, each episode dramatically engaging while also painting the agonizing truth of anti-Semitism through the ages, from the Nazis of World War II back to the Church's book-burnings of 17th Century Rome that nearly consumed the hagaddah.
The drama continues as the work of the restoration of the haggadah continues, and as Hanna Heath slowly discovers the truth of her own personal history, along with that of the Sarajevo hagaddah.
It's an outstanding read, and Brooks' own knowledge of research of Jewish history, and the fascinating world of rare book examinations and forensics, adds to the reading delight.
She becomes romantically involved with a colleague while working to prepare the Hagaddah for public display, but more than that, Heath becomes emotionally involved in the dramatic history of the Hagaddah itself. Heath is an unaffiliated Jew, but wonders about the journey this artistically rendered piece of Jewish history must have traveled through the ages. Geraldine Brooks does a masterful job of intertwining Heath's modern-day study of the hagaddah and her personal relationships with a former teacher, the colleague who becomes a love interest, and her cold and aloof mother, a successful surgeon who has hidden the truth to Hanna about the identity of her own father, a mystery that also slowly becomes solved during the course of the book.
Brooks' dramatized renderings of how the hagaddah may have passed from hand to hand, from a Jewish family in Sarajevo during World War II all the way back to Seville in 1480, are finely drawn, each episode dramatically engaging while also painting the agonizing truth of anti-Semitism through the ages, from the Nazis of World War II back to the Church's book-burnings of 17th Century Rome that nearly consumed the hagaddah.
The drama continues as the work of the restoration of the haggadah continues, and as Hanna Heath slowly discovers the truth of her own personal history, along with that of the Sarajevo hagaddah.
It's an outstanding read, and Brooks' own knowledge of research of Jewish history, and the fascinating world of rare book examinations and forensics, adds to the reading delight.
Between Venice, Seville, and Sarajevo, Brooks brings together an interesting cast of characters spanning centuries with a touch of Australian originality. Somewhat slow, but a good read overall.
This was an exquisitely written book. The jumping forward and backward in time was handled cleverly, so much so that I who don't like that format, loved this.
It went a bit long and had difficulty following the narrative; but generally worth reading as I respect this author.
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