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, 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 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.

res4je

Bookring ~ AU only



1. blundery WA
2. livrecache Vic
3. playtheman Qld
4. l1nda NSW <- - book is here now and ready to move on
5. ??

back to me

happy reading

;-)

I can't wait to start this book. I am reading something at the moment but as soon as I am done, I will get started on this. Thanks LadyIndigo for starting this ring :-)

What a fantastic story from a marvelous author. Geraldine Brooks sure can weave an intricate story web!

The whole timeline concept was strange at first but I soon worked out how it was unfolding and found it completely intriguing from there on in. I have been reading this book in bed at night, and as each chapter either tells a story or leads into a story, it was very hard for me to put the book down and go to sleep if it was one of "Hannah's" chapters that I was finishing, I wanted more, more, more.

I will PM the next person on the list and endeavour to get this book into the post by the middle of the week. thanks again ladyindigo for sharing this book, I am very glad to have read it.

Arrived safely. I am looking forward to reading this book. I do have a couple of rings before it, and I have just had eye surgery which may impede my progress slightly for a few days.

I finished this book last night. I read it disjointedly, which never helps. However, it was very interesting. The passages back in time to explore various people were particularly good, I thought. But I didn't warm to the narrator, Hannah, who is the conduit to link the book's journey. I found her efforts to be an Australian really grating and contrived. She's just trying too hard, and (the novelist has) been an ex-pat too long. I found her relationship with her mother and her lover to be totally unbelievable. But the research seemed to be impeccable, and I found the narrator's job fascinating. I want to give the book 7.5. It would have been higher, but the ending when she was back in 'Oz' doing a very different sort of research, I would have thought, was not good.

I'm probably being a tad harsh. Overall, I enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing, LadyIndigo, and thanks for sending it to me, Blundery. I'll post it to the next person over the weekend.

RELEASE NOTES:

Packaged up to be posted off to the next participant in the ring, tomorrow, for the 6 pm collection.

RELEASE NOTES:

Packaged up, ready to be sent to the next participant tomorrow.

Book has arrived safely thanks so much livrecache and ladyIndigo too for the ring.
I am engrossed in a man's book (Ship of Gold in the deep blue sea) but will get to People of the Book directly. I thought I had linda's
address but can't see that L1nda regestered in the Raymond Tce list..so will need some more encouragement down the track.

I have found this quite an interesting read. Such a broad sweep of locales is here. The Tate Gallery description, and incredible snapshots of imaginative power. it is about to make its way to L1inda.

Arrived safe and sound, thanks!

An enjoyable read, I found it a little hard to get into at first but once I grasped the concept of going back and forth in time I did enjoy it. I was a bit irritated by Hanna's "strine" talk, I felt that an educated woman wouldn't resort to slang. I really enjoyed the history and descriptive writing of the haggadah's journey.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Mailed back to LadyIndigo via her mother. Enjoy!