Vidal ha-Rofeh is a Jewish doctor in 1492 Granada when the Spanish conquerors sign the Alhambra Decree, giving all Jews within the city three months to either convert to Catholicism or leave Spain. If they don't do one or the other by the time this "grace period" is over, the penalty is death. Vidal's oldest daughter has already converted (she married a Catholic man that Vidal healed) and Vidal's wife wants to convert to stay with her and the home that's been in their family for generations. But Vidal thinks leaving is safer, and his family soon joins a caravan of 200 Grenadian Jews traveling to Fez, Morocco to resettle. The book follows both Vidal as he tries to balance his family life and work as a physician, as well as his daughter Catalina, who comes under the scrutiny of Inquisitors in Grenada.
There hasn't been a ton of fiction written about the Jewish expulsion from Spain, and I commend Weintraub for choosing the topic for his debut novel. It's interesting, and inspires me to learn more about this chapter of history. The characters are a bit two-dimensional, and the plot isn't quite believable at times, but I generally liked it.
This book will be published Feb. 20.
No comments:
Post a Comment