People of the Book

People of the Book (Geraldine Brooks) is a novel inspired by the true story of the Sarajevo Haggadah - an ancient Hebrew codex that has survived through five centuries of war, inquisition, and turbulence. Created, lost, and found in a region fraught with continual religious, political, and ethnic contentions - this text has proven to have the unique and magical ability to tie together the most unlikely of persons through its beauty and historical significance.

• "In Bosnia during World War II, a Muslim risks his life to protect it from the Nazis. In the hedonistic salons of Vienna in 1894, the book becomes a pawn in an emerging contest between the city’s cultured cosmopolitanism and its rising anti-Semitism. In Venice in 1609, a Catholic priest saves it from Inquisition book burnings. In Tarragona in 1492, the scribe who wrote the text has his family destroyed amid the agonies of enforced exile. And in Seville in 1480, the reason for the Haggadah’s extraordinary illuminations is finally disclosed."
  ~ http://www.geraldinebrooks.com/people.html

Brooks weaves her tale in in reverse chronological order, interspersed with discoveries from the Haggadah's present. As the story begins in modern day Sarajevo, an archivist is combing carefully through the folios and bindings of this mysterious text in an attempt to conserve, as well as to discover clues to it's mysterious origin. Subsequent chapters stem from the minute artifacts she uncovers from the book - a butterfly wing, a wine stain, salt crystals, a white hair....trash to the ordinary eye - answers to any archivist.

People of the Book is a novel that will touch a cord of recognition with anyone who may read it. It is not just for book lovers or archivists - but those who love learning about science, enjoy mystery, care about the struggles of humanity and war, are caught up in ethnic or religious conflict, or people who simply enjoy a good story.

To read Geraldine Brooks' essay published in the New Yorker about the real Sarajevo Haggadah, to see maps, or read more about the book visit: http://www.geraldinebrooks.com/people.html