“People of the Book,” by Geraldine Brooks
Viking Penguin Group, 2008

About 700 years ago, a beautiful book of prayer was hand scripted in Hebrew by an unknown Jew and illustrated in colors made by grinding lapis lazuli and other precious stones. The illustrator, it is believed, was an unknown Muslim. It is known as the Sarajevo Haggadah, a priceless jewel that through the centuries survived the Christian Inquisition, repeated destructions of libraries and museums during conflicts between Muslims, Jews and Christians, and later the looting of Hebrew works of art by the Nazis.

“People of the Book” is fiction but it is based on the history of a real museum piece that is featured in this amazing journey. The haggadah first came to the attention of scholars in Sarajevo in 1894, when an indigent Jewish family offered it for sale. Geraldine Brooks learned of this treasure when she was a reporter in Sarajevo covering the Bosnian war for the Wall Street Journal and decided she had to write about it.  She uses a fictional character, Hannah, a book conservator from Australia, to trace the book’s history.

Hanna’s report starts in 1996, when the haggadah turns up, even after Bosnian museums lie in ashes after the siege of Sarajevo started in 1992. The people referred to in the title of Brook’s book, are the artists, librarians, museum keepers, and ordinary Europeans, many of them Muslims, who recognized the value of this lovely treasure and often risked their lives to save it.

Brooks’ historical chapters featuring descriptions of war, the Inquisition and the holocaust are sometimes bloody and difficult to read, but of course are based on real events. Originating in Seville, Spain in 1480, the haggadah’s journey moves to Tarragona in 1492, Venice (1609), and to Sarajevo (1940 and 1996).  

Anyone who is interested in books, history, art, museums, libraries or solving puzzles will learn from and enjoy “People of the Book.” It was striking and hopeful that historians believe the haggadah was created in the mid-14th century during the period known as Convivencia, when Jews, Christians and Muslims coexisted in relative peace.

Perhaps that day will come again.
Betty Beier, Minneapolis