When my MIL handed me People of the Book, she said, "It's like The Da Vinci Code, only lots better." So, when I opened the novel, I expected a globe-crossing, adventure/mystery exploring the origins of a historical object. Having read Geraldine Brooks' previous novels, I should have realized that I would be getting much more than a Da Vinci Code copycat; People of the Book is an original, compelling story and my favorite Brooks novel to date.
The story revolves around Australian Hanna Heath, a no-nonsense rare book expert, who is selected to participate in a career-making restoration. The object of interest is a 15th Century haggadah (a Jewish manuscript containing the story of the Exodus), illuminated in a curiously non-traditional manner. Hanna travels to Sarajevo to examine the treasure, which has survived despite massive shelling in Bosnia. While restoring the book's binding, Hanna finds a handful of artifacts - a white hair, a wine stain, a butterfly wing and salt crystals - which lead her on a journey across the globe to trace the book back to its mysterious beginnings.
Each artifact receives a separate chapter as the tale moves backward in time. We discover the significance of the butterfly fragment as a Muslim risks his life to save the haggadah from the Nazis. The wine stain takes us back to 17th Century Venice, where a Jewish rabbi begs a Catholic priest to save the book from the Inquisition's fires. As each clue illuminates a portion of the Haggadah's history, we see each hand that created it, loved it, and risked everything to save it. Although Hanna doesn't get as complete a story as the reader does, the deeper she delves into the mystery, the more her admiration grows for the incredible book; she can't wait to bring its remarkable history to light. On the eve of its public debut, however, Hanna discovers something that will shake her to the core. Is it possible that the treasure is only a brilliant fake? Will Hanna, like the book's previous protectors, have to risk everything to save the real haggadah?
People of the Book is a brilliant historical mystery, replete with danger, adventure and a cast of characters masterfully rendered. Like the haggadah itself, each character is plain on the outside - "nothing that an untrained eye would look twice at" (14) - but illuminated with colorful passions on the inside. Brooks picks each apart, showing their weaknesses as much as their strong devotion; Jews, Christians, Muslims, agnostics - all get the same treatment from their creator. Her point is super fine: Each person - despite his color, religion or creed - protected the book because it was the right thing to do. Brooks underscores her point at the end of the book when one of the characters says, "...To be a human being matters more than to be a Jew or a Muslim, Catholic or Orthodox" (361).
Weirdly, I found all of the charcters in People of the Book sympathetic and endearing except one: Hanna Heath. I disliked her on sight. Although I began to have some empathy for her - especially after meeting her mother - it didn't make me like her any better. It didn't help that dips into Hanna's personal life were mostly just awkward - especially when she suddenly discovers the secret of her father's identity - and distracted from the story.
Despite that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It requires more focus than The Da Vinci Code, but it makes Dan Brown's masterpiece look like the work of a clumsy child. People of the Book is like the haggadah itself - plain on the outside, but beautifully illuminated within.
Grade: A-