Part picaresque novel, part moving romance, part historical document, this extraordinary reconstruction of fifteenth-century Spain, by one of Mexico's leading literary figures, has been acclaimed throughout Europe and Latin America. This was the century that changed the face of Spain, and of the world-the century of the wars with the Moors, which led to the end of Moorish Spain; the voyages of discovery, which culminated in Columbus's enterprise; and, perhaps above all, the century of the Inquisition, which financed both the wars and the voyages by seizing the fortunes of condemned Jews, and which led inexorably to the Expulsion. Here these events are seen through the eyes of one Juan Cabezon, a descendant of converted Jews, who is orphaned at an early age by a series of bizarre accidents and taken in hand by Pero Menique, a clever blind man, who uses him as a guide through the rich street life of Castil. It is Menique who brings him beautiful young Isabel de la Vega, sentenced to death by the Inquisition, and begs him to hide her in his house Juan and Isabel fall in love, but as time passes, Isabel is driven close to madness by her forced seclusion in Juan's house and her constant fear of death. One day she vanishes, and Juan sets off on a desperate search for her which takes him across Spain, into the heart of the Jewish communities, and constantly into the path of the Inquisition's autos-da-fea journey that stamps itself indelibly on the reader's mind.

About the Author: Homero Aridjis is one of Mexico's foremost poets and novelists. He has published more than twenty books of poetry and prose and won the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize for best book of the year in 1964 and the 1988 Diana. Novedades Literary Prize for the outstanding novel in Spanish for the sequel to 1492, Alemorias del fluevo mundo. Two volumes of his poetry have been published in English, Blue Spaces and Exaltation of Light, as well as a novel, Persephon. Twice the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, he has taught at Columbia University, New York University, and the University of Indiana. He has been Mexican Ambassador to the Netherlands and Switzerland and is the president of the Group of 100, Mexico's leading environmental organization. He lives in Mexico City.

I read this book at the end of the year, thinking it would be good to read about the end of one millenium at the end of another. Wrong! I particularly disliked this book. It's little of historical fiction, and a lot of surrealism. I even thought it lost in the translation, but by the time I was through, I knew it was simply unlikable. Sometimes it even makes you want to puke.

I bought this book because I like Medieval History and I wanted some more ideas of what feelings were like at the turn of the last Milennium. There are several good books out there on the subject. Though I would still put this book on the list I would put it at the bottom. I was looking for history and got 90% surrealism. If that's what you're looking for then fine. If you're looking for a good history or historical fiction then look elsewhere.

I agree with the previous two reviewers: if you are looking for a history book, look elsewhere. But Aridjis isn't an historian, he's a poet, and this book is sheer poetry, wonderfully imaginative and beautifully written.