What I'm reading now: People of the Book
Admission: I stayed up late last night to finish this book. It's funny because it took me a while to get into the modern-day part of the story, but the historical sections drew me in. Eventually I was deep into the modern-day sections also.
I was excited when Red Pen posted this book, because I hadn't realized that Brooks had a new novel out. I read her novel March when that came out a few years ago and loved it; I went on to read her Year of Wonders and loved that also.
Brooks is just able to capture the feeling of different eras so well. The chapter of the story about a young Jew in Sarajevo during WWII seemed as vivid and real to me as the chapter from the viewpoint of an African slave in Spain in the late 1400's.
It did take me some time to cotton to the character of Hanna, the modern-day book conservator, but I was able to. Her character does go through a transformation of sorts during the book, and she was much stronger at the end.
And I love that this book is all about the life of a book: a Spanish Haggadah with an amazing history. I knew it was fictional, but Brooks makes it feel authentic.
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