"People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks - Islington Branch Book Club - Past Titles

About the Author: Geraldine Brooks

Geraldine Brooks is an Australian-American author and journalist known for her works of fiction that often explore historical and cultural themes. Here is a brief biography of Geraldine Brooks:

Early Life:

Geraldine Brooks was born on September 14, 1955, in Sydney, Australia.

Journalistic Career:

Brooks began her career in journalism and worked as a reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. She later became a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.
As a journalist, she covered a wide range of topics, including conflicts in the Middle East.

Writing Career:

Geraldine Brooks transitioned from journalism to fiction writing. Her debut novel, "Year of Wonders" (2001), is set during the time of the bubonic plague in England.
She gained widespread acclaim and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her second novel, "March" (2005). The novel is a reimagining of the father's experiences in Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women."
"People of the Book" (2008) explores the journey of a rare illuminated manuscript, the Sarajevo Haggadah, through various historical periods.
Other notable works by Brooks include "Caleb's Crossing" (2011) and "The Secret Chord" (2015).

Awards and Recognition:

Geraldine Brooks has received several awards and honors for her contributions to literature, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for "March."
Her novels have been praised for their historical accuracy, compelling storytelling, and exploration of complex themes.

Dual Citizenship:

Brooks is both an Australian and American citizen. She became a U.S. citizen in 2002.

Personal Life:

Geraldine Brooks is married to author Tony Horwitz, who was also a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author. Tony Horwitz passed away in 2019.
The couple lived in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Geraldine Brooks is known for her ability to blend historical research with imaginative storytelling, creating novels that resonate with readers interested in history, culture, and the human experience. Her works often delve into the lives of ordinary people during extraordinary historical moments, offering unique perspectives on well-known events.

Synopsis

Called "a tour de force" by the San Francisco Chronicle, this ambitious, electrifying work traces the harrowing journey of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, a beautifully illuminated Hebrew manuscript created in fifteenth-century Spain. When it falls to Australian rare book expert Hanna Heath to conserve this priceless work, the tiny artifacts she discovers in its ancient binding—a butterfly wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair—only begin to unlock the book’s deep mysteries and unexpectedly plunges Hanna into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics.

In 1996, Hanna Heath, a young Australian book conservator is called to analyze the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, a priceless six-hundred-year-old Jewish prayer book that has been salvaged from a destroyed Bosnian library. When Hanna discovers a series of artifacts in the centuries' old binding, she unwittingly exposes an international cover up.

Discussion Questions

The novel follows the character Hanna Heath as she investigates the Sarajevo Haggadah. How does Hanna's personal journey parallel the historical journeys of the book's various owners?
The Sarajevo Haggadah is a real historical artifact. How does the author blend fact and fiction to create a compelling narrative, and how does the historical accuracy of the Sarajevo Haggadah impact the story?
Each section of the novel is dedicated to a different period in the Haggadah's history. Which historical period resonated with you the most, and why?
Explore the theme of cultural and religious tolerance in the novel. How do characters from different backgrounds and faiths interact with the Sarajevo Haggadah, and what does this reveal about the power of art and literature to bridge divides?
Discuss the significance of the Haggadah as a symbol. What does it represent to different characters throughout history, and how does its survival become a testament to the endurance of culture and knowledge?
The novel delves into the lives of various characters who have interacted with the Haggadah. Whose story resonated with you the most, and how did their experiences contribute to the overarching narrative?
Consider the impact of war and conflict on the preservation of cultural artifacts. How does the Sarajevo Haggadah survive through periods of war, and what challenges does it face?
Explore the character of Hanna Heath as a conservator. How does her profession shape her perspective on the Haggadah, and how does her personal journey intersect with the broader historical narrative?
The author weaves in elements of mystery and intrigue into the novel. How do these elements contribute to the pacing and overall impact of the story?
Discuss the parallels between the Haggadah's journey and the experiences of individuals or communities during times of upheaval. In what ways does the Haggadah serve as a witness to history?
Consider the role of women in the novel, both as characters in the historical sections and through Hanna Heath's contemporary narrative. How do women contribute to the preservation and transmission of culture and knowledge?
Reflect on the novel's exploration of the power of storytelling and literature. How does the act of telling stories contribute to the preservation of cultural heritage, and what does it reveal about the human connection to narrative?

MLN Materials

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Audiobook Versions

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Ebook Versions

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The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey
Call Number: Fiction Carey
London, 2010. Grieving the loss of her lover, Swinburne museum curator Catherine Gehrig is given a special project--bring back to life an automaton whose original owner, 19th century Englishman Henry Brandling, was also confronted with the mystery of life and death.
Playing with Fire by Tess Gerritsen
Call Number: FICTION Gerritsen
In a shadowy antiques shop in Rome, violinist Julia Ansdell happens upon a curious piece of music--the Incendio waltz--and is immediately entranced by its unusual composition. Full of passion, torment, and chilling beauty, and seemingly unknown to the world, the waltz, its mournful minor key, its feverish arpeggios, appear to dance with a strange life of their own. Julia is determined to master the complex work and make its melody heard. Back home in Boston, from the moment Julia's bow moves across the strings, drawing the waltz's fiery notes into the air, something strange is stirred--and Julia's world comes under threat. The music has a terrifying and inexplicable effect on her young daughter, who seems violently transformed. Convinced that the hypnotic strains of Incendio are weaving a malevolent spell, Julia sets out to discover the man and the meaning behind the score. Her quest beckons Julia to the ancient city of Venice, where she uncovers a dark, decades-old secret involving a dangerously powerful family that will stop at nothing to keep Julia from bringing the truth to light.
A Guide for the Perplexed by Dara Horn
Call Number: FICTION Horn
Software prodigy Josie Ashkenazi has invented an application that records everything its users do. When an Egyptian library invites her to visit as a consultant, her jealous sister Judith persuades her to go. But in Egypt's post revolutionary chaos, Josie is abducted--leaving Judith free to take over Josie's life at home, including her husband and daughter, while Josie's talent for preserving memories becomes a surprising test of her empathy and her only means of escape. A century earlier, another traveler arrives in Egypt: Solomon Schechter, a Cambridge professor hunting for a medieval archive hidden in a Cairo synagogue. Both he and Josie are haunted by the work of the medieval philosopher Moses Maimonides, a doctor and rationalist who sought to reconcile faith and science, destiny and free will. But what Schechter finds, as he tracks down the remnants of a thousand-year-old community's once-vibrant life, will reveal the power and perils of what Josie's ingenious work brings into being: a world where nothing is ever forgotten. An engrossing adventure that intertwines stories from Genesis, medieval philosophy, and the digital frontier, A Guide for the Perplexed is a novel of profound inner meaning and astonishing imagination.
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Call Number: FICTION Morgenstern
"Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a rare book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues--a bee, a key, and a sword--that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to a subterranean library, hidden far below the surface of the earth. What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians--it is a place of lost cities and seas of honey, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also those who are intent on its destruction. Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a beautiful barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly-soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose--in both the rare book and in his own life".

*ebook & audiobook on Libby
The Flight Portfolio by Julie Orringer
Call Number: FICTION Orringer
In 1940, Varian Fry traveled to Marseille carrying three thousand dollars and a list of imperiled artists and writers he hoped to help escape within a few weeks. Instead, he stayed more than a year, working to procure false documents, amass emergency funds, and arrange journeys across Spain and Portugal, where the refugees would embark for safer ports. His many clients included Hannah Arendt, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, and Marc Chagall, and the race against time to save them is a tale of forbidden love, high-stakes adventure, and unimaginable courage.
The Book of Dirt by Bram Presser
Call Number: FICTION Presser
The Book of Dirt is a love story, a riveting survivors' tale, and a grandson's quest to learn about his grandparents' extraordinary lives. The author's family built myths around them- Jakub was a teacher in the camps, keeping the children busy until it was their turn to be killed; Dasa laid the railway sleepers on the tracks that brought her fellow Jews to their deaths. When they died, their stories went with them. Then came the cracks. Everything the author thought he knew was wrong. In this story of two unlikely survivors, Bram Presser brilliantly imagines the fate of Jakub, deported to Auschwitz and to Theresienstadt, where it was rumoured after the war that he had sorted through thousands of Jewish texts confiscated for a so-called Nazi Museum of the Extinct Race. The Book of Dirt is also the story of Frantiska, her fraught marriage in Prague, and how she and her two eldest daughters, Dasa and Irena, miraculously survived the camps. The Book of Dirt is a completely original, page-turning novel about family myths and Jewish myths. And it is a heart-warming story about a grandson's devotion to the power of writing, storytelling and his family's legacy.