People of the Book

When Hanna Heath gets a call in the middle of the night in her Sydney home about a precious medieval manuscript that has been recovered from the smouldering ruins of war-torn Sarajevo, she knows she is on the brink of the experience of a lifetime.

A renowned book conservator, she must now make her way to Bosnia to start work on restoring the Sarajevo Haggadah - one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images - to discover its secrets and piece together the story of its miraculous survival over five centuries of history. But the trip will also set in motion a series of events that threaten to rock Hanna's orderly life, including her encounter with Ozren Karamen, the young librarian who risked his life to save the book. Shortlisted for the 2009 Prime Minister's Literary Awards. Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year 2008.

About the Author

Geraldine Brooks is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning March, Year of Wonders, and the non-fiction works Nine Parts of Desire and Foreign Correspondence. Previously, Brooks was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bosnia, Somalia, and the Middle East. Born and raised in Australia, she divides her time between Sydney and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. She lives with her husband, the author Tony Horwitz, and their two sons, Nathaniel and Bizuayehu.