"Il cabalista di Lisbona" si svolge tra la comunità ebraica che vive nella capitale del regno di Portogallo all'inizio del Cinquecento. Nel corso della Pasqua sono stati uccisi centinaia di ebrei e i loro corpi bruciati nel Rossio, la grande piazza nel cuore della città. Al centro del romanzo è la figura di Abraham Zarco, miniaturista e cabalista, che viene trovato assassinato in una cella segreta a fianco di una ragazza sconosciuta. La cella è chiusa dall'interno, i due sono stati sgozzati seguendo un rituale ebraico, ed è scomparsa una miniatura in cui Zarco ha dato ai personaggi biblici il volto di amici e conoscenti. Ma chi è la ragazza? Come ha fatto l'assassino a fuggire?
Il Ciclo Sefardita Serie
Questa serie di avvincenti thriller si addentra nella ricca storia e cultura degli ebrei portoghesi. Ogni episodio offre un'avventura avvincente ricca di mistero, intrighi e colpi di scena storici. I lettori saranno affascinati dal mix di trame incalzanti e profonde intuizioni culturali. È una lettura coinvolgente per gli amanti della narrativa storica e del suspense.
Ordine di lettura consigliato
Hunting Midnight
- 544pagine
- 20 ore di lettura
From the internationally bestselling author of 'The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon' comes a mesmerizing novel that takes readers on an epic journey from war-torn nineteenth-century Europe to antebellum America. A bereft child, a freed African slave, and the rich history of Portugal's secret Jews collide in this dazzling work of historical fiction that explores devotion, betrayal, guilt, and forgiveness. At the dawn of the nineteenth century in Portugal, John Zarco Stewart is an inquisitive child, unknowingly inheriting a faith hidden for three centuries due to the Inquisition. His innocence shatters with a season of loss and bitter discovery, but a magical stranger named Midnight, an African healer and freed slave, restores his safety and becomes his greatest friend. As Napoleon's armies invade Portugal, violence disrupts John's fragile peace, sealing his passage into adulthood with devastating loss. From the wreckage of his life, he uncovers hidden truths and lies from those he loved, revealing the unspeakable betrayal that destroyed his family and faith. This shattering quest leads him to America, where he seeks hope in a land burdened by unforgivable sin. With rich historical detail, from Porto's colorful marketplaces to the plantations of the American South, the author crafts a masterpiece that vividly captures John's journey and the mystical Africa that Midnight conjures from his memories.
Guardian of the dawn
- 400pagine
- 14 ore di lettura
By the time the 16th century was drawing to a close in the Portuguese colony of Goa, the Inquisition was making admirable progress in its mission to convert all 'sorcerers' - whether native Hindus or immigrant Jews - to Christianity. A progress helped, no doubt, by the availability of alternatives: those who refused to betray others or give up their beliefs were strangled by executioners or burnt alive in public autos-da-fe. By living just outside the colony, under the benign auspices of the Sultan of Bijapur, the Zarco family manages to stick firm to their Portuguese-Jewish roots. Ti and his sister Sofia enjoy a peaceful childhood learning to illustrate manuscripts with their father, and secretly dipping into the heady chaos of the Hindu festivals celebrated by their beloved cook Nupi. father and then the son are captured and imprisoned by the Inquisition. When Ti returns to India after serving out his sentence in Portugal, he comes armed with a complex plot of revenge. Devastated by the loss that he finds there, his plot unravels as he is forced to face up to the truth of his family's betrayal.