I read this book as part of a bookray a couple of years ago and thought it was excellent. Picked up this copy at a thrift store for release. See this JE for my prior review.

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People of the Book
Author: Geraldine Brooks
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-si?cle 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.

Sending to Fracula as a selection from the General Literature VBB. Enjoy!

Thank you so much for this book. I've read the JE's from your other travelling copy and it looks amazing.

Placing it on a toppling Mnt.TBR.

I am so sorry that this has been sitting on my bookshelf for 3 years! Determine to make this part of my winter hibernation, I enjoyed every page of it during my Christmas vacation.

What an amazing story. This is based on the imagined history of a real book called the Sarajevo Haggadah. Through much research the author has given us a historical thriller, educated us in Jewish history and the science of book authentication and conservation.

Thank you for sharing this amazing story. I will be sending it into the Calgary BookCrossing community.

Taking to the January meet-up of Calgary BookCrossers at Cravings Market Restaurant. I hope this amazing book will go home with a new reader!

picked up at Book Crossing Jan 10/2014 Cravings

controlled release

A box of 22 books arrived from Hovey, to be returned to the Calgary BookCrossing group.

Thank you.

Taking to the December meet-up of Calgary BookCrossers, held at Cravings Market Restaurant.

Picked up this book at the Calgary BookCrossing December meet-up. Globetrotting mystery about a book? I'm in.

I love the fact that the haggadah is real. It's so inventive of Geraldine Brooks to come up with these stories about the people who came in contact with the book. I wasn't expecting Hanna's story to be covered so extensively between each tale into the past, but she becomes part of the haggadah's unique history, too. All of the religious conflict discussed went over my head, but it' still frustrating to see that people are still fighting over faith, which is the right or wrong one, after so many centuries.

Passing on this book to the next reader at the Calgary BookCrossing January meet-up.

picked up at the January 2016 meeting

liked the idea of a book having back stories - and I'm never going to look at the scuffs and stains of a used book the same way again!

Grabbed at get together

I wasn't completely sure what to expect when I started this story, but it was very well done! I thought it was interesting how it jumped back and forth between the book's past and present. I got sucked right into each story. The characters were very well developed, even when it was just a short snap shot of their life, and the complexities of the different time periods and the different relationships were depicted very well. I also liked that one of the stories of the history of the book took place in the present/future of the book, to show that its own story is still on going.

Thanks for the fascinating read!

Taken to get together

Caught at November meeting

Just picked up this book at last meeting.

I got a bunch of books back from L-Marie to get them back into the group, this was one of them

Got these from a BookCrosser to return to circulation. I am sorting the books and either passing directly to a Calgary member who has requested it or returning it to the person who introduced it to the group. Hopefully this one will find a new reader soon!