Follow the journey of the Crypto- Jews as they traveled from Spain to the New World. Starting back in the days of Christopher Columbus commissioning three small ships to sail a different route to the Orient to trade spices and working through the generations who suffered at the hands of the Inquisition.
Author, Mary Morris uses the work of Stanley Hordes, whose career has been based in the study of the history of the Crypto-Jews of New Mexico to weave a tale of romance, secrets and family relationships. Young Miguel Torres is living today in Entrada de la Lunda, a fictional town outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a fifteen year old restless boy being brought up as a Catholic. Everyone in the small town seems related in some way and no one ever seems to escape the area. Except his aunt Elena, who went away to New York to be a dancer. She keeps in touch sending postcards from places she travels to but very rarely returns to visit. Miguel's escape is astronomy. He has built his own telescope and he loves to go out and study the constellations.
The book takes us traveling back to the Inquisition and the first family to settle in Entrada, a translator for Columbus, Luis de Torres. Torres is a historical figure who traveled with Columbus on his voyage to discover the New World. Throughout the book there is a mix of real Crypto-Jews and fictional characters created to build the storyline. The variety of characters travel from Spain to places like Portugal, the Philippines, the Canary Islands, and then to Mexico and New Mexico.
There are many family secrets. Each of the families carry on practices that have been passed down through the generations. Lighting candles on Friday nights, eating special foods and not eating other foods. The practices continue though there does not seem to be an explanation for them.
Miguel lives with his mother MG and visits with his father, Roberto, who spray paints cars for a meager living. Everyone seems stuck in this town. Vincent Roybal, who owns the village grocery, has been researching his family tree at the Palace of the Governors history archives for many years. He believes that if he figures out why they settled there, he would understand why very few people ever leave. "Vincent Roybal knows his ancestors came from Spain. He likes to believe that once they were rich aristocrats and that for a reason he cannot conceive they settled in this valley long ago. he knows that they are among the first settlers of the New World. He just doesn't know why they came here. And least of all why they chose a place like Entrada to dwell in when it is so remote from anything that any of them must have known before."
Morris gives us the reasoning behind the modern day story by taking the journey through the generations that brought the settlers to the area. We follow the family tree and see how each the Inquisition followed the Jews until they could live safely in Entrada.
An interesting novel with some historical accuracy and some creative and intriguing character development.
No comments:
Post a Comment