People of the Book

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of March, the journey of a rare illuminated manuscriptthrough centuries of exile and warIn 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis andconservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during theBosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminatedwith images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts inits ancient binding—an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair—she begins to unlockthe book's mysteries. The reader is ushered into an exquisitely detailed and atmospheric past, tracing thebook's journey from its salvation back to its creation.In Bosnia during World War II, a Muslim risks his life to protect it from the Nazis. In the hedonistic salons offin-de-siecle Vienna, the book becomes a pawn in the struggle against the city's rising anti-Semitism. Ininquisition-era Venice, a Catholic priest saves it from burning. In Barcelona in 1492, the scribe who wrote thetext sees his family destroyed by the agonies of enforced exile. And in Seville in 1480, the reason for theHaggadah's extraordinary illuminations is finally disclosed. Hanna's investigation unexpectedly plunges herinto the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics. Her experiences will test her belief inherself and the man she has come to love.Inspired by a true story, People of the Book is at once a novel of sweeping historical grandeur andintimate emotional intensity, an ambitious, electrifying work by an acclaimed and beloved author.