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People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks
People of the Book
by: (author)
3.84 675
Make this your next book club selection and everyone saves. Get 15% off when you order 5 or more of this title for your book club. Simply enter the coupon code BROOKSPEOPLE at checkout. This offer does not apply to eBook purchases. This offer applies to only one downloadable audio per... show more
Make this your next book club selection and everyone saves. Get 15% off when you order 5 or more of this title for your book club. Simply enter the coupon code BROOKSPEOPLE at checkout. This offer does not apply to eBook purchases. This offer applies to only one downloadable audio per purchase. View our feature on Geraldine Books’s People of the Book. 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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Format: hardcover
ISBN: 9780670018215 (067001821X)
ASIN: 067001821X
Publisher: Viking Adult
Pages no: 449
Edition language: English
Bookstores:
Community Reviews
Almagitana
Almagitana rated it
5.0 This book OMG
I love this book so deeply for so many reasons and always recommend it to other readers.
Words of a Bibliophile
Words of a Bibliophile rated it
4.0 People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
This engrossing read traces the fictionalized history of a real-life ancient Jewish manuscript found in Sarajevo, Bosnia and the people – Jews, Muslims and Christians – who shaped its destiny, from the 15th century up to the present day. The details about the restoration and conservation of old book...
Her Fine Eyes
Her Fine Eyes rated it
0.0 People of the Book
***Note: this review assumes that you've read the book.*** One-sentence summary: The contemporary thread of People of the Book was disappointingly melodramatic, and the historical threads had too little depth and feeling for the periods and the personalities. People of the Book tells a fictional...
Momster Bookworm
Momster Bookworm rated it
4.0 People of the Book
Greater than the contents contained in a book is the story of a particular book's journey; its 'provenance', if you will. Sprinkled throughout history are perilous rescue or salvage accounts of sacred books. Protected at great expense of life and freedom, these volumes are secreted away, to be kept ...
Carpe Librum
Carpe Librum rated it
4.5 People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
This is an exceptional story that explores the history of an ancient illuminated manuscript, the Sarajevo Haggadah. When the novel opened with a scene in 1996 Sarajevo, I wondered if it was going to be a good choice for me, but that was just the beginning of an amazing journey through centuries of s...
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