People of the Book

Written by the same author as Year of Wonders (which I loved), this story follows the fictional journey of the real Sarajevo Haggadah from 14th century Spain to modern-day Sarajevo through a series of clues found in the ancient book's binding. A hair, a splash of water, the wing of an insect - all spark the curiosity of a book restorer, who attempts to put together the story of how this remarkable book survived 500 years of Jewish exile and persecution. It is a fun book to read! The writing is okay - it bugged me that the author didn't really change the voice through the different eras of history, but it was obviously well-researched. I especially liked the idea that people of Muslim, Jew & Christian faiths all had a hand in the miracle of the book's survival -- "there were people who could see that what united us was more than what divided us."