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By Fire, By Water (2010)

by Mitchell James Kaplan(Favorite Author)

3.75 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1590513525 (ISBN13: 9781590513521)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Other Press (NY)

review 1: I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, even though it is the story of the horrors of the Inquisition in Spain, the time of Torquemada and his relentless, cruel pursuit of conversos and judaizers. The story, as I learned, is based on real events and characters - even Christopher Colombus is a protagonist. The main character, Luis de Santangel, is also based on a real person, the chancelor of the kingdons of Aragon and Castilla. He is a Christian and a trustworthy servant of the king who develops a curiosity to learn more about the faith of his ancestors. This brings tragedy to his family. At the same time, we learn about Judith, a Jewess living in Granada, which at the time was governed by the Arab Emirates. Eventually their paths cross, as the Catholic Queen and Kin... moreg wage war on the Arabs and retake Granada. I wished the end had been different, but I felt the deep tenderness and love the author felt for his main characters. Very good read.
review 2: In 1492, three events would change Iberia and change the world: Isabella and Ferdinand’s reconquest of Muslim Granada, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, and Columbus’s discovery of the New World. In his debut novel, By Fire, By Water, Mitchell James Kaplan shows how these events can all be traced back to Luis de Santángel, a third-generation Christian who served as chancellor to the crown. In the novel, Santángel is a likeable character whose curiosity about the Judaism of his grandparents gets him into trouble with the Inquisition. In trying to cover his tracks, Santángel participates in a crime that will have ramifications for everyone he loves including his young son and the Jewess silversmith he has come to love. Weaving together several subplots into a rich story with a surprising ending, Kaplan draws his readers into the Jewish quarter of Granada, the dungeons of the Inquisition and the halls of royal palaces. Kaplan’s knowledge of daily life in 15th-century Spain, as well as the political intrigues of the court and the church, make for an engrossing read. It was fascinating, though unsettling, to be in the head of Queen Isabella, her grand Inquisitor, Thomás de Torquemada, and victims of the Inquisition as Kaplan wrote them as real men and women rather than as historical caricatures. less

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