People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks ~ my review

Geraldine Brooks’ historical novel, People of the Book, reminds me of a double helix. One strand is the story of rare book expert, Hanna Heath, working on the famous Sarajevo Haggadah, and tending to family business that turns out to be life-changing for her. The other strand of the helix is the story of the origins and journey of the rare Haggadah. The links between the strands are what Hanna finds in the ancient pages—a white hair, a feather, blood, wine, saltwater, an insect’s wing. To identify these finds, she solicits help from scientific experts in those fields. Each expert identifies the country and time period and even altitude of the object, and then Brooks imagines a story of the Haggadah in the midst of people who might have lived then and there. Oddly, Hanna Heath never sees these stories. So the two strands of the helix never meet.

 

As this helix spirals backward through the Haggadah’s history, the reader glimpses life in 1940 Sarajevo, 1894 Vienna, 1609 Venice, 1492 Tarragona, 1480 Seville. Each of these imagined stories involves persecution of Jews, thus endangering the existence of the precious Haggadah. These are tales of hatred, cowardice, and heroism.

 

This novel is challenging; you might want to have a dictionary and atlas handy. Or just remember, as I didn’t, that the Haggadah’s global journey is mapped out in the first pages. I liked People of the Book because it is interesting and brilliantly written. Besides that, I liked it for some miscellaneous reasons.

 

Okay, I’ll admit the nerdiest one first: Working in a history museum, I learned paper conservation techniques. Not in a million years did I ever anticipate reading a novel about paper conservation. A novel by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, no less!

 

Second, as a follower of the Hebrew Jesus Christ, I consider the Israelites my ancestors and current sharers of the Old Testament of the Bible. Hatred for Jews has been a real head-scratcher for me. Why? Why? Why? Each of Geraldine Brooks’ historical vignettes illuminates various historical, oh-so-human reasons for this hatred. Horrifying … sobering … educational.

 

Third, I love Brooks’ creative imaginings of scenarios, why this person would have been in possession of a valuable illuminated manuscript, the argument characters were having when a drop of wine splashed on the book, everyone’s secret sins and longings, daring escapes. In your genealogy research, isn’t it your ancestors’ stories you crave? Well, Brooks delivers.

 

Fourth, I find ancient illuminated manuscripts extremely beautiful, and I have a certain reverence for the fingers that inked them. Maybe another nerdy reason for me to like People of the Book, but really, how can a person not gasp in awe when viewing gold, crimson, and blue illustrations of gorgeous calligraphy text? All hand-done from personal convictions. Labors of love.

 

Interestingly, although the darker stories in this novel are briefly lit by love, the strongest love story of the novel is love for the book, the Haggadah.