People of the Book

Ostensibly, Hanna is the one we are reading about here: "I wanted to give a sense of the people of the book, the different hands that had made it, used it, protected it" (p. pp. 264-265). Since this sentence provides us with a good explanation for the book's title, how well do you think Geraldine Brooks has done in giving us a sense of these people?

It gave me a smile when I read this sentence and thought of how it fit with the title. I think that the book does indeed give the reader a good feel for the people who had been involved with the book. However, I am wondering from whose perspective are these people? Is the author giving us the reader the view of who the people "really" were? Or are the people the ones that Hanna imagines as she researches the lives of the book?