Just received a wonderful review for THE MAPMAKER’S DAUGHTER, from BookList:
“It’s January 1492, and the king and queen of Spain have issued an order expelling all Jews who refuse to convert to Christianity. With one day remaining to comply, 67-year-old Amalia Cresques waits alone in a room empty except for the chair she sits on. She is waiting for her grandson to arrive. Together, they plan to go into exile. She cannot bring her most treasured possession, a handmade atlas created by her father. As she contemplates her imminent departure, Amalia reviews her long and varied life as wife, mother, family matriarch, and converso, hiding her Jewish faith and forced to live as a Christian. Corona (Penelope’s Daughter, 2010) brings to life one of the most tumultuous periods in European history. Her Amalia is the perfect character through which readers will experience these turbulent times as she spends a lifetime struggling to honor her faith and survive. Vividly detailed and beautifully written, this is a pleasure to read, a thoughtful, deeply engaging story of the power of faith to navigate history’s rough terrain.”
This on the heels of another wonderful review from Library Journal:
“In her fourth historical novel, Corona (Penelope’s Daughter; Finding Emilie) imagines the life of a Jewish woman in 15th-century Spain. Starting life as a converso publicly living as a Christian while being secretly taught Jewish practices by her mother and grandmother, Amalia longs to follow openly the faith that she loves. She soon joins a Jewish community, but her life continues to be shaped by conflicts between religious belief and societal forces, first during a love affair with a Muslim man and then culminating in the Inquisition and expulsion of all Jews from Spain in 1492. VERDICT Despite the title, Amalia’s mapmaker father doesn’t play much of a role in the story, though one of Amalia’s most treasured possessions is an atlas he creates. The novel’s primary strength is Corona’s loving re-creation of the details of Jewish life during the era and the particular attention paid to the role of women in keeping religious rituals alive. Fans of C.W. Gortner’s The Queen’s Vow may especially enjoy getting a different perspective on Spanish monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand here.”