People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (4 stars)

This has been on my to-read list forever, I thoroughly enjoyed March, and Year of Wonders was also pretty good. Like Year Of Wonders the historical aspects of the novel are great: and we get to sample all sorts of different time periods following the history of the haggadah.

So why had an illuminator working in Spain, for a Jewish client, in the manner of a European Christian, have used an Iranian paintbrush?

Also, like Year Of Wonders, it suffered from over-dramatisation, in this case in Hannah's modern-day story. A fairly implausible love interest jumps into bed, a big family secret is revealed, and there is a serious car crash, all of which felt like flashy over-played distractions getting in the way of the great historical vignettes. Towards the end of the novel it descended into farce: Hannah is pressured into a completely implausible spy-style mission that involves smuggling items through an airport in a suitcase with a custom-built secret compartment, and then performing a Mission-Impossible-style museum heist. blech.

In comparison, the short stories of the haggadah are fantastic: moving, heart-breaking, and inspiring.

...I have spent many nights, lying awake here in this room, thinking that the haggadah came to Sarajevo for a reason. It was here to test us, to see if there were people who could see that what united us was more than what divided us. That to be a human being matters more than to be a Jew or a Muslim, Catholic or Orthodox.

4 stars.