One of the Newbery Honor winners & a Sydney Taylor Book Award-Silver Medalist-2025
Ms. Behar bases aspects of this novel on her own Jewish grandmother's journey from Turkey to Cuba.
Readers will learn the history of Shephardic Jews from four different female viewpoints during four different time periods-Benvendia, 1492 (Spain to Turkey), Reina, 1923 (from Turkey to Cuba), Alegria, 1961 (Cuba to Miami), and then Paloma, 2003 (twho ties all three ancestors together by visiting Spain and learning more about their story).
I really enjoyed learning the history of these specific Jews during the time periods. The author researched extensively and relayed the facts well. The characters are not well-developed. Their stories end abruptly, but I wasn't upset because I did not connect to them. I felt like the book was more didactic than a captivating story. The purpose of this book seems more informational than a well-crafted story. I also felt like in part 4 all of the stories meshed together a bit too perfectly. This book would have been a great informational book, not a novel. The characters regarded their Jewish faith more as a superstition than a relationship.
-Borrowed from the library.
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