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Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » Heretic: A Novel

Heretic: A Novel

2 Ratings: 2.5

A book by Lewis M. Weinstein

The Heretic is a novel of daring adventure, tender first love, religious persecution, and political intrigue. It tells the story of a family of secret Jews living in Seville on the eve of the Spanish Inquisition. See all Editorial … see full wiki

Tags: Books, Fiction, Historical Fiction, History, Christianity, Jewish Fiction, see all

Author: Lewis Weinstein

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction

Publisher: WingSpan Press

Date Published: July 14, 2009

1 review about Heretic: A Novel

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"You will never accomplish God's purpose by killing his children."

Feb 27, 2009

by luan_gaines

Rating:

The pages of history turn inexorably toward the Spanish Inquisition, as the "conversos" are tormented by angry mobs of "old Christians", who believe the reformed Jews are secretly practicing the old religion, flaunting the law of the land and the Holy Mother Church. The great Dominican purges of 1391 and 1412 have created a large number of conversos, those who have been willing to relinquish their faith and embrace Christianity rather than be burned at the stake as heretics. After centuries of war with the Moors, Christianity is in its ascendancy, the Church brutal in its treatment of suspects, the finger of suspicion enough to send a man to the inquisitor's torture chambers.

Gabriel Catalan is a successful goldsmith in Seville and a secret follower of the old ways, conspiring with others to print copies of important Hebrew texts by means of Gutenberg's revolutionary printing techniques. Most of the old works have been destroyed, but in collusion with Moorish royalty, Catalan is able to print many copies, which are hidden with the aid of his son Tomas. But daily violence and unprovoked attacks have become endemic in Seville, a family close to the Catalans moving to a small village to escape certain detainment in a growing repression of the conversos. Tomas is instrumental in the family's escape and will eventually marry the daughter, seeking a safer life away from Spain. The principal arm of the Inquisition in Seville, Friar Ricardo Perez, is deeply suspicious of Catalan and his companions, slowly closing a trap that will deliver Gabriel to the stake, along with his devoted wife, Pilar.

The principal characters carry on with their work against time and fate, hoping to leave a historical legacy to those who follow in these dark years of brutality, intolerance and suspicion. The Moors divided, Christian Isabel seizes her opportunity to capture the Spanish throne and marry the man of her choice, Ferdinand of Portugal, their mission to restore the grandeur of Christianity and subdue unbelievers by any means necessary, the black years of the Spanish Inquisition looming. The Catalan family and their friends are helpless in the face of increasing dangers; by the time Perez is joined by the infamous Torguemada, the accused stand convicted, tethered together, surrounded by burning stakes. Unflinching in the face of brutality and inhumanity, Weinstein reveals the ugly face of intolerance, fanatics demanding sacrifice in one of the most brutal periods of history, the Jews scattering before one more attempt at annihilation, one great religion pitted against another in a battle that rages violently today, God watching His children destroyed in His name. Luan Gaines.