book details

Book: Lucena by Mois Benarroch

categories: Book, Sepharad Jews, Sephardi Legacy, Sephardic Law Spain, Sephardi Novel, Israeli Literature, Sephardic Surnames, Noah Gordon, Jaquetia Morocco, Moroccan Novel, Spain Novelist, Molina Sefarad, Jewish Literature

Mois Benarroch

about this book: Lucena is part of "THE TETOUAN TRYLOGY", which includes Gates To Tangier, Lucena and Keys to Tetouan (Not translated yet). If Gates to Tangier took me 11 days to write, Lucena took me 5 years. No wonder it took that long since the scope of this novel is 1000 years. The main character Lucena was born in the year 1000 and his days are counted since no one can live more than 1000 years, which is in Judaism considered one day in the life of God. He has to transfer his legacy to his great-great-great grandson, in seven encounters.

Can he do that? Can he really understand his own story? The story of Jewish Sephardis dispersed from Spain, or forced to convert to Judaism.

We will find the dispersed but also converted Jews who truly embraced Catholicism and still were chased by the inquisition, as well as priests saying Kadish in the tomb of their fathers.

So who are the Sepahrdis? Who are the conversos?

You may get some answers from this novel, but you'll probably get even more questions.