Elizabeth Zelvin

I put off reading this book so long, I suppose I wasn't thinking it would be nearly as good as it turned out. I really appreciated the author's portrayal of a wide portion of society in both Spain and the Caribbean. Most of the novel is centered around Columbus's second voyage to the Americas and told from the perspective of Diego, a Jewish sailor who must hide his faith for fear of the Inquisition. In Spain, Diego sees members of his own faith exiled, forced to convert, and executed at the hands of inquisitors. In the Caribbean, Diego witnesses yet more brutality - the enslavement, rape, and murder of natives in the name of God and Spanish supremacy. This novel packs a lot into its pages and I almost felt it should have been much longer. Overall, I like this book and, for all the despair it contained, the ending left me with a degree of happiness for the characters.… (plus d'informations)