|
People of the Book: A Novel Posters
Photos Art
Search for Posters Art Prints, photos and get
results from all the many categories from Amazon including
books, videos, dvds, toys, video games, and more.
|
|
|
Posters Art
Prints Photos collectables |
|
|
|
|
|
|
If for some reason you can't find what the
poster or art print your looking for try using the search boxes
below
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
List Price: $25.95Amazon.com's Price: $17.13 You Save: $8.82 (34%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Now!
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780670018215
ISBN: 067001821X
Label: Viking Adult
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: January 01, 2008
Publisher: Viking Adult
Sales Rank: 322
Studio: Viking Adult
Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category:
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of March, the journey of a rare illuminated manuscript through centuries of exile and war
In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding—an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair—she begins to unlock the book’s mysteries. The reader is ushered into an exquisitely detailed and atmospheric past, tracing the book’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 of fin-de-siècle Vienna, the book becomes a pawn in the struggle against the city’s rising anti-Semitism. In inquisition-era Venice, a Catholic priest saves it from burning. In Barcelona in 1492, the scribe who wrote the text sees his family destroyed by the agonies of enforced exile. And in Seville in 1480, the reason for the Haggadah’s extraordinary illuminations is finally disclosed. Hanna’s investigation unexpectedly plunges her into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics. Her experiences will test her belief in herself 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 and intimate emotional intensity, an ambitious, electrifying work by an acclaimed and beloved author.
Amazon.com:
Amazon Best of the Month, January 2008: One of the earliest Jewish religious volumes to be illuminated with images, the Sarajevo Haggadah survived centuries of purges and wars thanks to people of all faiths who risked their lives to safeguard it. Geraldine Brooks, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March, has turned the intriguing but sparely detailed history of this precious volume into an emotionally rich, thrilling fictionalization that retraces its turbulent journey. In the hands of Hanna Heath, an impassioned rare-book expert restoring the manuscript in 1996 Sarajevo, it yields clues to its guardians and whereabouts: an insect wing, a wine stain, salt crystals, and a white hair. While readers experience crucial moments in the book's history through a series of fascinating, fleshed-out short stories, Hanna pursues its secrets scientifically, and finds that some interests will still risk everything in the name of protecting this treasure. A complex love story, thrilling mystery, vivid history lesson, and celebration of the enduring power of ideas, People of the Book will surely be hailed as one of the best of 2008. --Mari Malcolm
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
The modern characters are weak and the story doesn't stick together very well. But the historic dramas were quite intriguing. Fells like this book was written by two different authors.
Rating:  -
If you like historical fiction with a bit of mystery intertwined, you will like this. I won't repeat the plot, but I found it totally fascinating and found myself going back to reread parts -- the chapter headings were so helpful, I'm thinking the author anticipated readers rereading parts. The idea of taking art "backwards" isn't new, but it is still fascinating.
And, if you enjoy this title, check out the movie The Red Violin and another great book by Susan Vreeland Girl in Hyacinth ... Read More
Rating: -
This is a great work of historical fiction. Weaving well-researched fact with fictional story, the story of the famous Sarajevo Hagaddah is told here.
Rating: -
This isn't highbrow literature, but it is one of the more entertaining books I've read recently, particularly since I love reading about books and book history. This is the story of an old haggadah (a Jewish sacred test used at the Passover table). The narration alternates from the modern viewpoint of a book restorer to the various people over centuries who have helped the haggadah to survive. The love story contained within the modern narrative moves quicker than I expected and is trite and somewhat ... Read More
Rating: -
This is a beautiful book, and I must admit that I burst into tears upon finishing it. It wasn't until I was an adult that I found out from my uncle that our family had been forced out of Spain in 1492. They went to Holland and then eventually made their way across Europe to what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. While the memory of leaving Spain had stayed with the family, the Spanish family name had not. This book gave me a feel of what their life in Spain might have been like.
I ... Read More
|
