People of the Book

People of the Book
Geraldine Brooks

Penguin
December 2008
400 pages
fiction > literary
(finished reading: Jan. 20)

from the back cover: "Hanna Heath, an Australian rare book expert, has been offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, 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 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, ushering in its exquisite and atmospheric past, from its salvation back to its creation through centuries of exile and war."

It says it's inspired by a true story but I enjoyed the book as wonderful fiction without the need to find the true story to compare.


This book is actually two stories. One is the book itself. One is Hanna's life of family & friends, love & betrayal. We have the conservation of the book and finding the fragments and each artifact gives us double stories, her search today of the why of it's placement and the then why of it's placement. I'm sure the "then" why of it's placement part is what makes this fiction ;)

We also have Hanna. Why was she chosen when she is not the top of the field? The relationships she has with family and friends. This story also has betrayal & more betrayal. And redemption.

This story sucked me in and wouldn't let me go. I loved the detail we got on the process of conservation without it being too heavy. Hanna's experiences in the now and what she was willing to do to find the story. But the "then" part of the book was my favorite. Hanna would find an insect wing and then we would get to read how it got there, way back when. It was fabulous!

This was a new author for me and I felt such satisfaction when I finished, I wanted to go out and purchase all of her books. I haven't done that yet, wondering if the others will live up to this one.

5+ stars: I'm keeping this one but want EVERYONE to read it!