Review: By Fire, By Water (Mitchell James Kaplan)

Columbus Before the Queen, by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze

First off, I had wanted to include an image with this post that wasn't the cover. Not because it wasn't a good cover--it is. But, I figured I'd include something horribly gruesome. It does cover the period of the beginning of the Spanish Inquisition. try doing a Google search for that. You'll get a lot of images, but unless you're terrified of Monty Python, then you are SOL.

Anyway, by luck I found the painting that the cover comes from. It was a total accident, but anyway, it's a cool painting.

So, OK, the whole point is reviewing the book, not the cover art. I can't say I enjoyed it. Not because of the writing. It's good and it moves at a faster pace than I had expected. Actually, during the first 50 pages I wasn't sure I would bother finishing it. I'm glad I did, but I still can't say I enjoyed it.

Our story follows the lives of several characters, but mainly that of Luis de Santangel and Judith Migdal. He is chancellor of Aragon, so he has a close relationship with Fernando V (or one half of the Catholic Monarchs). She is a Jew struggling to make a living in Granada during its last days as a Muslim possession. She takes up the family business as a silversmith after her brother and his wife are murdered. Luis de Santangel is of Jewish decent, although he makes a point of emphasizing that he is a third generation Christian. This doesn't keep his family away from the torments of the Inquisition.

Chapters in the book go from one character to another. Mitchell James Kaplan used the third person perspective quite effectively. It allows him to take the reader through the story using a bunch of different characters. Some chapters focus on Tomas de Torquemada, the dreaded head of the Inquisition in Spain. Kaplan doesn't judge him, which is great, but I still can't stand this historical figure. I really hope he got his comeuppance.

You also get to see the story through what happens to King Fernando, Queen Ysabel (it's old spelling), Luis de Santangel's brother and son, Christopher Columbus and through Judith. It provides a complex tapestry life in Spain during the Reconquista. With this technique, Kaplan made this sad story much easier to endure.

Now, you don't pick up a book about this time period without expecting bad things to happen to the main characters. Unless it's a romance novel, although I can't think of a more inappropriate time period to set a trashy novel in than medieval Spain. Kaplan gives a well written story with minimal glitches. (I can't imagine that Fernando of Aragon knew in the late 1480s that his daughter Juana would be the one to take the throne.)

Worth checking out, but not if you are depressed.

Next up: The Last Rendezvous, by Anne Plantagenet. Started this one this morning. Not sure if I'll finish it, but I'll give it one more commute before I make up my mind. If I can't get into it, I'll start The Last Time I Saw You, by Elizabeth Berg. I've read three of her books and have loved them all, so I have high hopes for this one.