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Powell's Staff: New Literature in Translation: December 2022 and January 2023 (0 comment)
It may be a new year, this may be a list of new books, but our love for literature in translation hasn’t changed at all, and we are so pleased to be enthusiastically recommending these recent releases. On this list, you’ll find a Spanish novel where controversy swirls around a Coca-Cola billboard...
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  • Kelsey Ford: From the Stacks: J. M. Ledgard's Submergence (0 comment)
  • Kelsey Ford: Five Book Friday: Year of the Rabbit (1 comment)

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People of the Book

by Geraldine Brooks
People of the Book

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  • Synopses & Reviews

ISBN13: 9780143115007
ISBN10: 0143115006
Condition: Standard


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Staff Pick

This is an extraordinary history of a Jewish prayer book. As an archivist is repairing the book, she finds unexpected things in the binding: a granule of salt, a wine stain, a fragment of a butterfly wing. As she discovers these items, the reader sees the story of their introduction into the book. Unlike anything I've ever read, the images in this book are sharp and sometimes unbearable. Despite the horror, this is an amazing, beautiful, fabulous book. When my store asked its employees for their three best books of the decade, it was one of my picks. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

The "complex and moving" (The New Yorker) novel by Pulitzer Prize-winner Geraldine Brooks follows a rare manuscript through centuries of exile and war.

Inspired by a true story, People of the Book is a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity by an acclaimed and beloved author. Called "a tour de force" by the San Francisco Chronicle, this ambitious, electrifying work traces the harrowing journey of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, a beautifully illuminated Hebrew manuscript created in fifteenth-century Spain. When it falls to Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, to conserve this priceless work, the series of tiny artifacts she discovers in its ancient bindingaan insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hairaonly begin to unlock its deep mysteries and unexpectedly plunges Hanna into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics.

Review

"[A]n ingenuity equal to that standing behind her Pultizer Prize-winning March....[A] marvelously evocative journey backward in time." Booklist (Starred Review)

Review

"[A]n enthralling historical mystery....Rich suspense based on a true-life literary puzzle, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Brooks." Kirkus Reviews

Review

"Each story is engrossing and deftly woven into the narrative, though the telling is sometimes facile or cloying. Nevertheless, this latest from Pulitzer Prize winner Brooks is a good addition to most libraries and excellent for discussion groups." Library Journal

Review

"Brooks demonstrates a gift for balancing research with a command of pacing and plot....Geraldine Brooks has...half-found and half-invented a swashbuckling book and, despite occasional quirks, woven a tale that's haunting and satisfying." The Los Angeles Times

Review

"[A] sprawling historical work — equal parts CSI, period piece and romance-among-the-ruins....This is exciting stuff...and Brooks does a good job moving the plot along....[A]n ambitious book, a pleasure to read, and wholly successful." Minneapolis Star Tribune

Review

"[I]ntense, gripping...a tour de force that delivers a reverberating lesson gleaned from history....In writing an immensely readable novel that fleshes out gaps in the historical record, Brooks has extended the reach of a story that bears recounting." San Francisco Chronicle

Synopsis

In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famous Sarajevo Haggadah, which was rescued during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna discovers a series of tiny artifacts in the book's ancient binding, she begins to unlock its mysteries, tracing the book's journey from its salvation back to its creation. In Bosnia during WW II, a Muslim risks his life to protect the book from the Nazis. In the hedonistic salons of Vienna, the book becomes a pawn in a struggle against the city's rising anti-Semitism. In Inquisition-era Venice, a Catholic priest saves it. Hanna's investigation unexpectedly plunges her into the intrigues of art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics.

Synopsis

The bestselling novel thatfollows a rare manuscript through centuries of exile and war, from the author ofThe Secret Chord and of March, winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
Inspired by a true story, People of the Book is a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity by an acclaimed and beloved author. Called "a tour de force"by the San Francisco Chronicle, this ambitious, electrifying work traces the harrowing journey of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, a beautifully illuminated Hebrew manuscript created in fifteenth-century Spain. When it falls to Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, to conserve this priceless work, the series of tiny artifacts she discovers in its ancient binding-an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair-only begin to unlock its deep mysteries and unexpectedly plunges Hanna into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics."

About the Author

Geraldine Brooks is the author of March, the recipient of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. She is also the author of Year of Wonders, Nine Parts of Desire, and Foreign Correspondence. Previously, Brooks was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bosnia, Somalia, and the Middle East. She lives with her husband, the author Tony Horwitz, and their son.

4.8 17

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating 4.8 (17 comments)

`
CAAnnie , January 30, 2013
Provides a stunning sweep of European history with sympathetic characters throughout several time periods, including the present. Makes concrete the relation between culture, literature, and our desire to engage others through the centuries.

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Kay Rhoney , October 03, 2011
Besides really liking this book, I LOVE Powells;) Moving to live in Germany after +35 years in Porland, I MISSED POWELLS!!! Discovering online purchasing with a mailing flat rate has been the BEST... THANK YOU, Powells;)

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Kim Batchelor , September 01, 2011
Before reading this, I didn't realize how a book itself could become the story, especially as successfully as the author does with this one. At first, I was annoyed by the long description of the haggadah,thinking it was the author showing off her research. As I saw how these details mattered, I wanted to go back to that description after all the stories of its creation revealed themselves. A compelling narrative about interesting and troubled times.

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Flamingo Reader , January 29, 2010 (view all comments by Flamingo Reader)
Compelling,well written tale. A story that lingers with one to savor long after the book has been finished. Exquisite reading.

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Teresa Borden , January 10, 2010 (view all comments by Teresa Borden)
Fantastic story spanning centuries with details about a lost Jewish prayer book. From Sarajevo backwards to Inquisition-era Spain from a Catholic, Muslim and Jewish perspective with fascinating characters, this book kept me entranced.

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readalot , January 10, 2010
Author Geraldine Brooks has produced a well-written, intriguing and inventive fictional story of the people who made, held and saved the real fifteenth century Sarajevo Haggadah. I especially enjoyed the scientific investigation into fictional clues of the book's history. There is a parallel contemporary 'love story' that is woven between the 'stories' of the people in the book's mysterious history. A fascinating read.

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CJO , January 03, 2010 (view all comments by CJO)
Beautiful language and an imaginative, intriguing plot that travels through time and many countries. Brooks makes the centuries-long survival of a single book (based on the Sarajevo Haggadah) moving and unforgettable. The main character, a book conservator, is feisty and smart. She is an ideal detective as well as a fully-realized human being.

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peppercat , January 02, 2010
I loved this book. Brooks' writing is very engaging and well-researched. I loved the story she wove for the Haggadah. It's a very unique and exciting book. Now I want to read all her others!

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Kim Jaudon , January 02, 2010
Told using a rather uncommon reverse chronology, the book was well researched, intriguing, and hopeful. Hopeful in that you ended with the conclusion that despite all, there is a great deal of good in people. My bookclub, which has read countless good (and, occassionally, not-so-good) books during the past decade, continues to search for our "next People of the Book," book. It's become our book of comparison.

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s2place , January 01, 2010
I loved this book. The premise was unique, building a history around the book and it's markings. I loved the historical aspect, putting me in times and places I can never be. The stories with in the story brought it all alive to me.

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MoonHowler , January 01, 2010 (view all comments by MoonHowler)
Geraldine Brooks is an expert at weaving stories together. As I read each era I thought it was my favorite. She took a bit of a story not commonly known and created a history to explain how various parts of the Sarajevo Haggadah came to be, and how the book came to Sarajevo. A book to keep and reread.

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jojesshol , January 01, 2010 (view all comments by jojesshol)
A book for people who love books! Surprisingly I burst into tears as I finished reading the book. I am not the sort of person that cries at films or books. My friend, Sarah, pointed out that I was crying about a book, not people. See, I do have a sensitive side! I highly recommend this book. I also recommend A Voyage Long and Strange by her husband Tony Horwitz....history made accessible and, at times, humorous.

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rlrozen , January 01, 2010
Historical fiction and mystery trace the journey of the Sarejevo Haggadah and the lives it touched, creating a mystical character from an inanimate object. The haggadah and the Brooks book are alive. Secondary to the central story the reader can appreciate the symbiotic relationships between cultures especially the Muslims and Jews.

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lilsnobelle , November 28, 2009 (view all comments by lilsnobelle)
I've read a good bit of historical fiction, and this is by far the best. I loved this book. I recommend it to everyone. It has beautiful prose, a lovely way of showing how Muslim, Jewish, and Christian religions all have to work together to preserve religion. I loved it. I will read it again. Now as I am reading I can 't get into books as they do not match up.

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katknit , November 14, 2009 (view all comments by katknit)
People of the Book is not a page turner, a suspense novel, or an adventure story. Author Brooks has taken what little is known about the Sarajevo Haggadah, with a focus on a few tiny artifacts evidently left behind, inadvertently, by some of the people who handled it in the past. The skeleton of the story hangs upon the stabilization of the book by Hanna Heath, a book conservationist working in the 1990's. As she discovers such minutia as a feather, a stain, and an insect wing, the author inserts compelling chapters in which their presence might be explained. It is these chapters, which begin during the second world war and gradually regress to the early medieval period, that make People the compelling historical novel that it is. The history of the Haggadah parallels that of the persecution of the Jews, but many of the major characters in each era are Christian or Muslim. In the end, it becomes clear that the production and preservation of a great religious work of art relies on the cooperative efforts of people of many faiths. This is a message that could not be more timely, and this is a book that is a pleasure to read and ponder.

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shante , April 08, 2009 (view all comments by shante)
a very strong work from an amazing writer of historical fictions. Geraldine Brooks once again demonstrates her talent for connecting specific histories to the entire human population, beyond divisions of culture, region, and time, by illustrating the extent to which each of us may impact and be impacted by each other and our pasts.

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lovingreader , February 04, 2009 (view all comments by lovingreader)
An awful lot like The Red Violin and A Cup of Light. I liked both those books and I like this one, too, although the style is a bit breezy in my opinion.

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780143115007
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
12/30/2008
Publisher:
PENGUIN PUTNAM TRADE
Pages:
416
Height:
.69IN
Width:
5.06IN
Thickness:
1.00
Age Range:
18 and up
Grade Range:
13 and up
Number of Units:
1
Illustration:
Yes
Copyright Year:
2009
Author:
Geraldine Brooks
Author:
Geraldine Brooks
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Subject:
Judaism - Manuscripts
Subject:
Judaism

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