The Poetry of Secrets

Product Description

Perfect for fans of Ruta Sepetys and Elizabeth Wein, this lyrical portrait of hidden identities and forbidden love is set against the harrowing backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition.

Isabel Perez carries secrets with her every day.

As a young woman in 1481, Trujillo, Spain, she should be overjoyed that the alguacil of the city wants to marry her, especially since she and her family are conversos — Jews forced to convert to Catholicism — leaving them low in the hierarchy of the new Spanish order. Yet she longs to pursue an independent life filled with poetry and a partner of her own choosing: Diego Altamirano, a young nobleman whose family would never let him court someone with tainted blood like hers.

But Isabel’s biggest secret is this: Though the Perezes claim to be New Christians, they still practice Judaism in the refuge of their own home. When the Spanish Inquisition reaches her small town determined to punish such judaizers, Isabel finds herself in more danger than she could ever have imagined. Amid the threat of discovery, she and Diego will have to fight for their lives in a quest to truly be free.

A timeless love story about identity, religious intolerance, and female empowerment, The Poetry of Secrets will sweep readers away with its lush lyricism and themes that continue to resonate today.

From School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-At 16, Isabel Perez, a Jewish teenager of the 15th century living in Trujillo, Spain, manages more than the books for her family’s wine business; she’s determined to fall in love with someone her poems only imagine, even if her refusal to marry the town constable kills her and her family-her parents, Abuela, and younger sister Beatriz. The resolution of this tension informs much of the novel, although Abuela, who teaches her granddaughters to read in secret, just as her own grandmother had done, shows that rebellion goes back over many generations. Gordon sets these willful characters against the Spanish Inquisition, and the repression, violence, and torture of Jews, Muslims, and anyone else who opposed the country’s Roman Catholic orthodoxy. Isabel’s family passes for Catholic but privately celebrates their Jewish faith; Isabel, miserable and critical of their façade, threatens to leave and enter a convent. When Isabel encounters Diego Altamirano, who’s as irresistible as he is unavailable, their love story is predictably romantic, despite the frenzied flight of the Perez family from Spain and the years of separation that result. This book articulates the fear and deception that define living in secret: None of the options-“passing,” converting, rebelling-are safe. It’s Isabel, the idealized heroine, whose quest propels the narrative to its eventual happy ending, while the fate of Beatriz, who’s not as smart, pretty, or beloved, is less joyful. VERDICT An ambitious epic of the Spanish Inquisition seen through the eyes of a rebellious young woman whose Jewish family faces persecution and death.-Georgia Christgau, LaGuardia Community Coll., Long Island City, NYα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Review

Praise for The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming (cowritten with Laurie David):
A Kirkus Best Book of 2007
A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2007 (Children’s Nonfiction)
A Rocky Mountain News Best Children’s Book of 2007
Green Earth Book Award Winner (Nonfiction Category)
A CCBC Choices Selection 2008
2008 Santa Monica Public Library Green Prize for Sustainable Literature
2009 California Readers Collection
* “A humorous tone, eye-catching graphics and celebrity connections lend pizzazz to this volume, but there is plenty of substance, too.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
* “Dynamic layouts and abundant illustrations and photos enliven the passionate words . . . This engaging and accessible guide, ideal as a gift or book-club option, inspires commitment to the