I admire Geraldine Brooks greatly but have not, for no good reason at all, read her Pulitzer prizewinner March. Based on her latest, People of the Book, I certainly should, for she is a wonderful, commanding writer. Every one of her books is a departure and this is no exception. People of the Book follows Hanna Heath, a famed book conservator, as she restores and investigates a rare, precious medieval Jewish prayer book called the Sarajevo Haggadah. From Bosnia, where she meets Ozren, the official librarian who risked life and limb to keep the Haggadah safe, she zooms around the world, tracking clues on the manuscript’s incredible history. The author interweaves stories from that history, spanning continents and ages.
A novel about the sanctity of libraries and books (Brooks dedicates it ‘for the librarians’) holds a special fascination for me, and the author renders Hannah’s profession in wonderful detail. Surely plotted and evocatively described, People of the Book should have had a greater impact than it did. Although interesting, I felt the historical snapshot stories, well crafted as they are, sapped the overall emotional content of the novel. Strangely enough, the stories towards the end of the book, occuring earlier and earlier in time, seemed the strongest ones, so my enjoyment and attachment escalated at the end. The main plot’s resolution is fitting.
Well worth reading . . . but I’m looking forward to March, hoping it hits my heart more strongly.