People of the Book: A Novel | Geraldine Brooks

People of the Book: A Novel | Geraldine Brooks | an ambitious success

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People of the Book...

	People of the Book: A Novel Geraldine Brooks Viking Adult, 2008 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 98 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

From the Pulitzer Prize?winning author of March, the journey of a rare illuminated manuscript through centuries of exile and war

In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding?an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair?she begins to unlock the book?s mysteries. The reader is ushered into an exquisitely detailed and atmospheric past, tracing the book?s journey from its salvation back to its creation.

In Bosnia during World War II, a Muslim risks his life to protect it from the Nazis. In the hedonistic salons of fin-de-siècle Vienna, the book becomes a pawn in the struggle against the city?s rising anti-Semitism. In inquisition-era Venice, a Catholic priest saves it from burning. In Barcelona in 1492, the scribe who wrote the text sees his family destroyed by the agonies of enforced exile. And in Seville in 1480, the reason for the Haggadah?s extraordinary illuminations is finally disclosed. Hanna?s investigation unexpectedly plunges her into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics. Her experiences will test her belief in herself and the man she has come to love.

Inspired by a true story, People of the Book is at once a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity, an ambitious, electrifying work by an acclaimed and beloved author.

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Better than expected!

Prompt delivery of a perfect-condition book. Thank you for the accurate description and for the reliable service

an ambitious success

"People of the Book" drew me in with its title, and had me enthralled from the first page. This is an ambitious work, which could have been a disaster in the hands of a less skilled writer. But Geraldine Brooks does not disappoint; on the contrary, she exceeds my highest expectations. "People of the Book" is an intricate tapestry of one focal point through history, showing the mingled impact of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity from the 15th century through today. Simultaneously earthy, sincere, and thought-provoking, this is the most brilliantly written book I have encountered in a long time.

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Most pleasant surprise

Ms. Brooks certainly know how to tell a story and to keep the reader in polite but nagging tension.
This biography of a book is a wonderful narrative, a story of passion and wonder. A rare case of history told as a novel (there is too much of this kind floating around, but rare exception do happen)where the moral is less than obvious, the narrative riveting and extremely well constructed, so that the Italian principle of "if not true is it well made up" not only applies, but is surpassed..

good history, less mystery

The first four fifths of this book are a historical fiction built around the creation and travels of the Sarajevo Haggadah. The author uses the highly-charged drama of ethnic relations in Europe from the fifteenth century on and the religious wars in Spain to tell the story of the book and to spin a message of religious tolerance. The effect is charming, almost sentimental and if you are a fan of historical fiction you may be moved. There's also a wonderful excursion into the world of manuscript conservators that provides a vicarious chance to handle fabulous old books.
The rest of the plot concerns a very unlikely swap of the Haggadah and some unbelievable shenanigans around a romance.
Brooks is a good writer, her prose is occasionally luscious and this is a pleasant summer read if you don't look too deeply.

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