Hutson-Wiley’s storytelling continues to the surprise, and the novel, like its protagonist, takes unexpected paths. After an impulsive act of revenge, Joshua must flee the city, and the rabbi sends him as a messenger to Portugal’s King Alfonso, telling him that the time to seize Lisbon is now. At the school run by Maimon Ben Joseph at Qurtuba, Joshua falls in love with Hannah, but marriage is forbidden as she belongs to the Karaite group of Jews. And, intent upon proving his skills as a merchant, takes on his most dangerous mission yet: establishing a new trade route to India.
Hutson-Wiley’s prose is straightforward and unadorned, often touched with a fable-like quality, especially as the novel reveals culture, characters, and the textures of life. Not all lives, though–apart from Hannah, and Sophia, William’s love interest, the tale is devoid of women. When the protagonist returns to his father’s house, will he not meet his mother? Still, Joshua’s journeys are compelling, and his inner conflicts—his philosophical confusions, his anger at discrimination he experiences, his innate good heartedness—make for immersive reading.
Takeaway: Absorbing tale of a Jewish merchant’s travels and dangers in the twelfth century.
Comparable Titles: Richard Zimler’s The Incandescent Threads, José Saramago’s The History of the Siege of Lisbon.
Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
