The Heretic

December 5, 2005
Winner of the 1999 Spanish literary prize, the Premio Nacional de Narrative
, Delibes's assured historical novel takes place in the Spanish city of Valladolid, where Cipriano Salcedo is born on October 31, 1517, the same day Martin Luther nails his 95 theses to a church door in Wittenberg. Deprived of his mother, who dies shortly after childbirth, and alienated from his self-absorbed father, Cipriano grows up a wealthy bourgeois tormented by an overly acute conscience. He marries Teodomira, an earthy daughter of a sheep farmer who ultimately suffers a pitiful fate. After meeting theologians Agustín, Pedro Cazalla and Don Carlos de Seso, Cipriano converts to Lutheranism and quickly becomes a leading member of the local underground Protestant Reformation, working to win other converts and even traveling to Germany for the movement. When the Inquisition arrests a sect member, the entire group—including Cipriano—is exposed and all are arrested. Delibes (The Hedge
, etc.) weaves an engrossing tapestry of historical and theological minutiae, but the character of Cipriano is an allegorical, everyman figure. The real protagonist of this novel is the 16th-century incarnation of the author's hometown, Valladolid, which he recreates in lucid detail.

February 1, 2006
Delibes (b. 1920), the author of more than 50 books, tells a tale that shows how Catholic Spain contrived to withstand the landslide of Lutheranism. On the very day that Luther proclaims his 95 theses at Wittenberg, a child named Cipriano Salcedo is born in Valladolid, Spain, and is destined to join the Protestant movement there. The new Christians meet secretly at great risk, sharing the belief that faith alone (without good works) guarantees salvation as well as disbelief in purgatory and the worship of relics. The Inquisition is now being zealously implemented because Emperor Charles V, sorry that he did not execute Luther when he had the chance, has charged his son Philip II to compensate for his error. The novel is not at all gruesome until the larger-than-life penitential -ceremony - at the very end, and its appeal resides in the vivid details of Cipriano's everyday 16th-century life, such as his career in business and fashion, his failed marriage, and the insanity and institutionalization of his wife. Recommended for all readers of historical fiction." -Jack Shreve, Allegany Coll. of Maryland, Cumberland"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2006
Winner of the Premio Nacional de Narrative, Spain's most prestigious literary prize, this novel seeks to illuminate the Spanish Inquisition through the story of one man. Cipriano Salcedo, born on the same day in 1517 that Luther posts his theses, is loved only by his wet nurse (his father blames him for his mother's death after childbirth) but becomes a man of wealth and status in his native Valladolid, his adult life marred only by his failed marriage. Seeking moral perfection, he listens to clergy who accept Luther's doctrines, meets secretly with other "new Christians," and undertakes a dangerous mission to Germany to see Reformers and buy Lutheran books. The novel opens with a prelude of Salcedo's return from Germany, picking up chronologically at the last chapter, as arrests of group members begin. However, the prelude is short of background for the reader; together with the extensive use of dialogue instead of narrative and the sheer level of detail, this dilutes the drama of the story. Dense with historical fact and figures; impressive but limitedly compelling.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)