People of the Book is a riveting mystery that swings back and forth between the present career of book conservator Hanna Heath and the precarious lives of the creators and protectors of an ancient Jewish holy book.

Brooks' brilliant characters throw their essential goodness in the path of evil, but cannot help but be smothered by the anger, prejudice and persecution they face. As the story flows through Spanish kidnapping and slavery, the Inquistion, late 19th century anti-Semetism, World War II, and the recent war in Bosnia, Brooks' vivid writing exposes the appalling rigidity of religious laws. At the centre of it all is the beauty of the book itself.

If you love books as objects and you love history you will be carried away by this wonderful, delicately constructed novel.