Review: An Admirable Work of Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 13, 2014
Three events of great importance occurred in Spain in 1492. First, the armies of Ferdinand and Isabella conquered Granada and flushed the Muslims from Europe. Then the monarchs signed the Edict of Expulsion, intended to rid Spain of its Jews. And finally, a band of intrepid men set sail with Columbus to seek a new trade route to the orient.It’s against this background of events Zelvin has set her entertaining and historically accurate Diego Mendoza stories.All of the men with Columbus had reason for trepidation, though it was tempered with hope of riches and honors. Mendoza has additional reason for worry—he’s a Jew, a fact known only to Columbus. Though Jews had been tolerated—even respected—in the past, they were now the target of the Inquisition. Even those who had converted to Christianity found themselves at risk of torture, exile or even death.The author told the events of the first voyage in two previously published short stories. Voyages of Strangers begins on Dec. 24, 1492 when the Santa Maria wrecked on shoals on the coast of Hispaniola.Leaving a small garrison behind, Columbus and the main body (including Diego) return to Spain where the navigator is honored and begins preparations for the second voyage. While assisting in that process, Diego is also feverishly attempting to smuggle his teenaged sister Rachel out of Spain and reunited with their parents in Italy.Rachel, a headstrong and intelligent girl, has ideas of her own. After some hairy episodes in Spain, Diego is just breathing a sigh of relief when he discovers she’s smuggled herself aboard his ship disguised as a boy. Columbus agrees to take her on as a scribe, thus keeping her safe as they once again cross the Atlantic. There’s some evidence Columbus came from a family of Conversos, Jews who converted, though he was in practice a devout Christian. Rather than rely on that speculation, Zelvin has him protect Diego and Rachel out of the goodness of his heart and because he was friends with their father.As the Spaniards (and Columbus) become corrupted by the lust for wealth and power, Diego and Rachel find love among the native Taino, whose lot becomes as tenuous as that of the Jews at home, and find their own lives again in jeopardy.An admirable work of fiction. I hope Zelvin will treat us to more of the adventures of Diego and Rachel in future.