Hanna Heath, an expert book conservator, is summoned to Sarajevo to repair an ancient Jewish text. A few microscopic samples she has extracted from within the book’s binding lead her on an amazing journey to uncover the book’s colorful history since its creation over 500 years ago. On the way, Hanna also learns something about her own family secrets.

Brooks presents an intriguing historical mystery, but without the overt sensationalism of a book like The Da Vinci Code. PotB reminded me a little of Vreeland’s Girl in Hyacinth Blue, which is a story of the “life” of a painting, rather than a book.

Great fun. The “story about an object, told in flashbacks” format is very “The Red Violin” (not a bad thing), and Brooks does a very good job of developing her supporting characters in the “vignettes from the past”. The descriptions of the haggadah and its construction hooked me from the start. As always, Brooks’ prose flows well – very enjoyable to read.

I love the double meaning of the book’s title – it’s not a big deal, but did add a nice extra frisson while reading.

My one complaint is that I didn’t find Hannah to be as well developed as some of the other characters – I didn’t relate to her as well as I could’ve. Still, for all the she’s the main human character, I didn’t find that this deficiency detracted markedly from the book.

Wow, she can write! I’ve enjoyed Brooks’ other two novels – March and Year of Wonders, so I expected to like this – and I was hooked as soon as I met Hanna. She’s a much more likable character than the pious Mr. March, really, even if Geraldine Brooks does render him sympathetically.

The device of using artifacts – in this case items found in the Hagaddah – works well here. The big question is, “will the characters know what we know?” Or maybe it’s, “do they need to?” Either way, it’s fun to follow the whole set of journeys. And, unlike so many books with a Jewish historical theme, this one isn’t terribly depressing. That’s a definite plus for me.