Viking, January 2008
"I wanted to give a sense of the people of the book, the different hands that had made it, use it, protected it." So writes Hannah Heath, protagonist and narrator of People of the Book. In this case, Hannah, a PhD in book conservation is clearly channeling the voice of author Geraldine Brooks.
The frame of this tale is set in the near present time. Events and discoveries lead to us backwards in time ultimately to the origins of "the book." The book is very real. Known as the Sarajevo Haggadah, it may have been created around 1480 in Spain. That was a time known as the convivencia, a time when Christians, Muslims, and Jews lived in harmony and with respect for one another and one’s religious beliefs. That was to change within a few short years and cause the perilous journey of the haggadah up to today. A haggadah is a Jewish holy book that is used at home during Passover so that a family can tell the story of the Exodus. The Sarajevo Haggadah was unusual in that it contained many beautiful paintings, including one of an African woman clearly participating in the evening meal with a Jewish family.
"I wanted to give a sense of the people of the book, the different hands that had made it, use it, protected it." So writes Hannah Heath, protagonist and narrator of People of the Book. In this case, Hannah, a PhD in book conservation is clearly channeling the voice of author Geraldine Brooks.
The frame of this tale is set in the near present time. Events and discoveries lead to us backwards in time ultimately to the origins of "the book." The book is very real. Known as the Sarajevo Haggadah, it may have been created around 1480 in Spain. That was a time known as the convivencia, a time when Christians, Muslims, and Jews lived in harmony and with respect for one another and one’s religious beliefs. That was to change within a few short years and cause the perilous journey of the haggadah up to today. A haggadah is a Jewish holy book that is used at home during Passover so that a family can tell the story of the Exodus. The Sarajevo Haggadah was unusual in that it contained many beautiful paintings, including one of an African woman clearly participating in the evening meal with a Jewish family.
Its remarkable story of survival is the impetus that propels this story. Around 1492 it left Spain and got to Venice. In 1609, Giovanni Domenico Vistorini "passed" the book so that it was not consumed in the flame of the Inquisition. It was in Vienna in 1894 where it was poorly restored, losing its cover and any clasps which held it together. It was in Sarajevo at the beginning of World War II where it was saved from the Nazis. It remains in Sarajevo today.
The most remarkable piece of its continued journey is that it was repeatedly saved by Christian and Muslim individuals who had no religious imperative and no personal stake in its existence. For the complete story, view a page from the haggadah here.
Hannah Heath, a young but remarkably adept conservator, has been called from her native Australia by the United Nations to examine the haggadah. She is an expert conservator whose technical skills are first class. "But there is something else, too. It has to do with intuition about the past…. I can think myself into the head of the people who made the book….That’s how I add my few grains to the sandbox of human knowledge."
The most remarkable piece of its continued journey is that it was repeatedly saved by Christian and Muslim individuals who had no religious imperative and no personal stake in its existence. For the complete story, view a page from the haggadah here.
Hannah Heath, a young but remarkably adept conservator, has been called from her native Australia by the United Nations to examine the haggadah. She is an expert conservator whose technical skills are first class. "But there is something else, too. It has to do with intuition about the past…. I can think myself into the head of the people who made the book….That’s how I add my few grains to the sandbox of human knowledge."
As she examines the book she finds certain items caught within the pages that lead her into an imagination of the past. For example, a piece of a butterfly wing leads her to 1940 and the rescue of the book from a rapacious Nazi general who would burn anything attributed to a Jew. These excursions into the past are of mixed quality. The story of Hannah’s relationship with her mother and her subsequent discovery of her father’s identity seem superfluous to the central story. And, the twist at the end, having to do with a real/fake haggadah, seems tacked on for the purpose of bringing a love interest back into the picture.
People of the Book, while an enjoyable read and great introduction to the Sarajevo Haggadah, does not rise to the literary level of her Year of Wonders or her award winning reportage. Nonetheless, it deserves a wider audience because its message of tolerance is so apropos and vital, given our evangelical belief that other religions are wrong just because the ceremonies or the names of "god" are different from ours.
People of the Book, while an enjoyable read and great introduction to the Sarajevo Haggadah, does not rise to the literary level of her Year of Wonders or her award winning reportage. Nonetheless, it deserves a wider audience because its message of tolerance is so apropos and vital, given our evangelical belief that other religions are wrong just because the ceremonies or the names of "god" are different from ours.
Geraldine Brooks is the author of Nine Parts of Desire, a brilliant examination of the hidden world of Muslim women. She was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in the Middle East, Bosnia, and Somalia. A native Australian, she is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Brooks lives on Martha’s Vineyard with her husband Tony Horwitz.
