From the Publisher
Estrella is a Marrano: During the time of the Spanish Inquisition, she is one of a community of Spanish Jews living double lives as Catholics. And she is living in a house of secrets, raised by a family who practices underground the ancient and mysterious way of wisdom known as kabbalah. When Estrella discovers her family's true identity--and her family's secrets are made public--she confronts a world she's never imagined, where new love burns and where friendship ends in flame and ash, where trust is all but vanquished and betrayal has tragic and bitter consequences.
Infused with the rich context of history and faith, in her most profoundly moving work to date, Alice Hoffman's first historical novel is a transcendent journey of discovery and loss, rebirth and remembrance.
Publishers Weekly
Lamia adopts a vaguely Spanish tone for her reading of Hoffman's tale of a 16-year-old girl in 16th-century Spain who discovers she is a converso-a Jewish convert to Christianity whose family secretly practices the Jewish faith. Lamia trills her Rs and renders her vowels pleasantly strange, sounding more like a Spaniard attempting to tread the unfamiliar ground of English than a native speaker. This strategy occasionally dips toward self-parody, but on the whole, Lamia is pleasant to listen to, and the slightly childish, perky tone of her voice is just right for Hoffman's teenage protagonist. Her unusual reading provides an air of mystery that is entirely appropriate for this story of secret lives unraveled. Ages 12-up. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Myrna Marler
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KLIATT
Alice Hoffman's books of magical realism and even more magical language have great appeal to teens. Here, she deliberately focuses on a YA audience to address a difficult topic: Jews living in hiding under the guise of Catholicism during the Spanish Inquisition. Sixteen-year-old Estrella doesn't even know she is Jewish, although her family practices kabbalah in secret; but still she is bothered when a rabbi's books are publicly burned. The atmosphere of their beautiful little town becomes poisoned and dangerous. Anyone, it seems, can turn in a neighbor to the authorities on suspicion of being a Jew, and their house, lands, and possessions are forfeited. Adults are put to death and the children raised by Christians. Estrella's best friend Catalina, not as pretty or as charming, turns on her when she discovers her handsome betrothed is falling in love with Estrella and Estrella is falling in love with him. Estrella learns about betrayal and her secret identity at the same time. Hoffman's signature lyricism is much in evidence but her prose is not as rich in detail as in her other books. The result is a story that reads like a black fairy tale. The dragons to be slain are religious intolerance and racial discrimination. However, these dragons never die and ultimately only escape is possible. Hoffman introduces a little-known part of history to YA readers, but those familiar with her other books may long for more detail and motivation. KLIATT Codes: JS*--Exceptional book, recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2006, Little, Brown, 166p., $16.99.. Ages 12 to 18.
Children's Literature
Young Estrella DeMadrigal is a Marrano, a member of a community of Jews living in Spain in the early 16th century at a time when Catholicism was considered the one, true faith. Those who refused conversion were killed, and those who converted but retained their Jewish beliefs were forced to live secret lives. Estella's coming-of-age begins when she witnesses soldiers, who are enforcing the church council's new decree, host a public burning of books owned by a Jewish man. Although Estella's mother has taught her that she possesses the power to think her own thoughts and believe in herself, Estrella is not taught the truth about her faith. Her ignorance can no longer protect her, however, as betrayal comes too close to home when Estella's closest friend and confidant, Catalina, along with her mother, turn on another Marrano family in the community as a means to raid their cupboards once they have been taken away. Catalina, out of jealously over the fact that the boy to whom she is promised loves Estrella instead, chooses to then report the DeMadrigal family. Estrella's learned grandfather, spirited brother, and kind mother are arrested and die as a result of their beliefs. Estrella finds the strength to survive from her recognition that knowledge might yield peril but is also a source of power. She asks her readers to remember her story, to remember her. Given the moving narrative, richly drawn characters, vivid historical context, and poetic language, this task is easily within reach. Reminiscent of Ben Mikaelsen's Tree Girl, Hoffman's story is both difficult and essential reading.
VOYA
Hoffman, author of the apocalyptic Green Angel (Scholastic, 2003/VOYA April 2003), tears a horrific page from history and melds it with mysticism to create a spellbinding tale told by Estrella, the youngest in a tight-knit family of Spanish Jews hiding as devout Catholics during the Inquisition. Sixteen-year-old Estrella and Catalina are sure that they will marry and live next door to each other, but their idyllic thoughts end with the town council's first decree: "No Jewish books, no medical books, no magic books." The second decree lists ten ways to determine if your neighbor is a Jew. "Turn one in, and you share all he owns, halved with the court." As Estrella reads the list, she realizes the truth, one that she cannot share with anyone, especially not Catalina, whose intended has fallen in love with Estrella. At first glimpse, this tale is of betrayal, but a closer look loosens the pages of a love story-the love of one's faith and family. Estrella/Esther will survive to continue this love story. Hoffman crafts a lyrical, short-sentenced text that reads like poetry. The book itself is visually beautiful, from shades of gold and red on the cover to gray tones illustrating title pages for the sections: Soul, Angels, Darkening Light, and Husks. Although similar to Carol Matas's The Burning Time (Delacorte, 1994/VOYA October 1994) in relation to the depth of the love between mother and daughter, this novel stands alone as a tightly woven tale of love overcoming betrayal and prejudice.
Alan Review
This coming-of-age story about Estrella deMadrigal, set in medieval Spain, looks at contrasts and appearances. At first Estrella sees herself as the look-alike and sister to her best friend, Catalina. She also sees herself as a Christian. But when Estrella witnesses a book burning in the town's plaza, her world begins to change. Soon public denouncements and executions follow as the town fathers accuse all Jews of witchcraft and sorcery. Estrella finally sees what has always been around her. There is a secret her family is protecting—secret knowledge of the Jews or kabbalah, which is taught in her family's house. Family rituals are really Jewish rituals and family members have secret names. Along her journey to selfhood, Estrella falls in love, loses her best friend, and survives horrific persecution. The historical setting and Biblical allusions add richness to this coming-of-age story. Alice Hoffman's characters are well developed and speak with unique voices. This story will foster discussions about diversity, religious freedom, friendships, and betrayal. But, most of all, it is a poignant and often painful tale of growing up.
Francisca GoldsmithCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
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School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up
Alice Hoffman's historical novel (Little, Brown, 2006) is brought to life compellingly in Jenna Lamia's subtly accented reading. At the dawn of the 16th century, Spain's Jews have fled, been restricted to ghettoes, or converted to Christianity in order to live openly in Spanish society. Estrella's family has lived in her village for 500 years and is, as far as the 16-year-old knows, like all her neighbors and her best friend, fervently Catholic. In fact, however, they are hidden Jews, and Estrella realizes this only weeks before it occurs to the townspeople. Hoffman describes with accuracy, but without undue manipulation, the devastation of Estrella's family through torture and murder, her confrontation of the truths about her supposed friend and her neighbors, and her newly found and embraced identity. An interesting love story adds an unusual element to the novel. An excellent choice for curriculum support as well as for casual listeners.
Kirkus Reviews
Echoes of the Holocaust reverberate through this 16th-century tale of a young Spanish woman who discovers through love, betrayal and tragedy that her family is secretly Jewish. Estrella has never questioned why she's sometimes called "Esther" at home, why her family lights candles before dinner on Friday and other habits-until she reads a poster that describes the practices of Jews, who hide beneath a veil of Christianity to protect themselves. Meanwhile, a growing attachment with Andres, a neighbor, poisons her relationship with her closest friend Catalina, to whom he's been promised. In revenge, Catalina goes to the authorities, setting in motion a chain of arrests, mock trials and at last, a huge auto-da-f that leaves only Estrella and her grandmother alive. Having witnessed it all, Estrella washes off the ashes and sets out for the New World, vowing not to let herself or her descendants forget. More poet than historian, Hoffman focuses less on period detail than on her protagonist's inner life and voice; her tale therefore has a timeless quality, though because she leaves the background vague, and also gives Estrella's family elders mystical powers, it's not her most convincing outing. (Fiction. 12-14)
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