People of the Book

by Geraldine Brooks

Restoration of the Sarajevo Haggadah and the mysteries that are uncovered during that process is the basis for this beautifully written historical fiction, People of the Book. Hanna Heath is an expert in rare books. She is called upon to restore this ancient volume and discovers a wing from an insect, a hair, and a wine stain in the binding. Through these she is able to trace the whereabouts of this remarkable book through its history.

The Sarajevo Haggadah is one of the first ancient Jewish books to have been illuminated with brilliant pictures of scenes from the Bible meticulously crafted with gold and copper and silver. It survived centuries of anti-Semitic purges. Hanna traces the history of this unique book and retells its circumstances, its struggle to survive, and the horrific tales of those who protected it.

A copy of the Sarajevo Haggadah surfaces and adds dramatic twists to the plot. In the end, the copy is burned, and it leaves me wondering why. Art historians know that apprentices have copied works of masters, some surviving in the shadows, and some with merit in their own right that are stored in museums. Why could the copy not have been saved – as a copy? Even the copy has a story to tell.

People of the Book traces elements of Judaism through centuries of history. In many ways, it reminded me of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and its quest for the Holy Grail. Different religions, different stories to tell, but each a tightly woven mystery wrapped around a rare religious artifact and delivered in a time and place rich with history and raw with emotion.