The Last Song

February 20, 2012
Set during the turbulent Spanish Inquisition in the multicultural city of Toledo, this historical novel follows teenage Isabel as she uncovers long-held family secrets that both terrify and liberate. Although raised as a devout Catholic in a wealthy household with Muslim slaves, Isabel’s exposure to the torture and humiliation of heretics raises her awareness of her own family’s idiosyncrasies, such as Friday candle-lighting and the absence of pork from their menu. Isabel claims her hidden Jewish heritage just as the cultural climate becomes increasingly dangerous for Jews. Wiseman (Puppet) adeptly portrays the threatening atmosphere of fear and prejudice that compels citizens into distasteful choices: Isabel’s forced betrothal, for safety’s sake, to a Catholic man she despises; old friends refusing her desperate family’s entreaties for help once their heritage is known. Isabel’s rapid transformation from one who feels peace when addressing “our savior’s mother,” to secret student of Torah, combined with her unsurprising preference for a kind Jewish boy over her odious fiancé, lessen the story’s dramatic tension. However, the themes of exodus and perseverance despite adversity are uplifting. Ages 11–up.

March 15, 2012
The daughter of Queen Isabella's physician discovers that her parents don't practice the religion in which they raised her. Dona Isabel can't understand why her parents insist that she be betrothed to Luis, the cruel and arrogant son of her father's friend from the royal court. At last they explain that they are marranos, secretly living as Jews but seeking to protect her from the Inquisition by marrying her to a Christian. Shocked but not particularly given to soul searching, Isabel proceeds to meet an attractive Jewish boy, Yonah, who leads her into Toledo's ghetto for a secret Torah class and a seder. True to type, Luis turns out to be an informer who has her father arrested and tortured--but thanks to a fortuitous family letter proving that Torquemada himself had Jewish grandparents Isabel secures his release. With "Dayenu" on their lips, Isabel and her parents join Yonah's family and other expelled Jews headed for a new life in Morocco--their passage paid with jewelry smuggled by a loyal slave. A scant few of the Christians here are not rabidly hateful, but Wiseman is plainly less intent on posing thorny issues of faith or crafting complex characters than portraying Jewish courage and solidarity in adversity. Worthy aims are scuttled by avoidance of nuance. (Historical fiction. 11-13)

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April 1, 2012

Gr 6-8-A story set during the Spanish Inquisition. Isabella, 14, and her family appear to be devout Catholics. But curiously, her mother does not eat pork, saying that it doesn't agree with her stomach. Blatant hints unfold, and readers learn that Isabella and her parents are New Christians, Jews who are forced to deny their own beliefs in order to survive. The teen is distraught when her father insists that she become betrothed to the son of an upstanding Old Christian family. She finds Luis disrespectful and harsh and doesn't understand why she must marry him. Soon she is told the truth about her family's secret religion. She meets Yonah, the son of a Jewish silversmith, and their conveniently instant friendship takes root. When her father is suddenly arrested and brought before the Inquisition, Isabella is determined to save him. She discovers a letter that alludes to the Jewish ancestry of Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor, and she and Yonah plan to use it to garner Don Enrique's freedom. Soon an edict ordering the expulsion of all Jews from Toledo is handed down, and Isabella's family must leave, freeing the teen to look forward to life with Yonah. Historical information is woven throughout the story, but it is heavy-handed and greatly interrupts the dramatic flow. Alice Hoffman's Incantation (Little, Brown, 2006) and Kathryn Lasky's Blood Secret (HarperCollins, 2004) are more successful in presenting the drama of this time through gripping, well-paced stories and multidimensional characters.-Renee Steinberg, formerly at Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2012
Grades 8-12 Growing up in Toledo, Spain, in the early 1490s, Isabel, 14, is the daughter of the royal family's physician. She enjoys her privileged lifeshe is waited on by loyal Moorish slavesbut she hates that she is promised in marriage to vicious Luis. The cruelty of the Inquisition does not concern her until she discovers her family's dangerous secret: they are Conversos, Jews who have been forced to convert to Christianity or die, and she sees her parents practice Jewish rituals in hiding and follow the old ways. Despite her arranged betrothal, she bonds with Jewish Yonah and wishes that she could marry him. Then the Inquisition comes for her father: Will they burn him alive? Will the expulsion of the Jews save them? With spies and informers on all sides, the story builds to a gripping climax. Some historical notes would have been helpful, but readers will easily be caught by the young girl's personal heartbreak and conflict and will want to find out more.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)