Siguiriya: A Novel

From the author of Cantora  comes Sylvia Lopez-Medina's powerful narrative of one family's struggle to survive the persecution of the Spanish Inquisition, Set in southern Spain in the 15th century, Siguiriya  evokes the lives of three generations of her father's multifaith family, one that includes intermarriages between Moslems, Jews and Catholics in an era of deepening terror.

We meet General Amahl Cozar, a devout Moslem, as he retires to his remote estate in Cadiz after a perilous career in the Spanish Army. Eager to begin anew, the General anticipates an easier life once he finds a wife, starts a family and revitalizes his ancestral farm. He does not expect to fall in love with fiercely independent Jewish Bianca de Lucena, who with dark eyes, captivates him like no other woman before her, but he is smitten with Bianca from their first meeting, and can't imagine living without her. When they marry, Bianca fulfills her promise to give the General children, and he honors his word to raise them as Jews. The couple's shared dream of a loving, tight-knit family is realized.

When tragedy strikes the de Lucena Cozars, it is their youngest daughter, Justina, who must hold the family together. She marries the Jewish Efraim Velasquez and has two children, Jaime and Meschianza. The murderous Inquisition intensifies, and Justina and Efraim must seclude themselves within the estate. The children's only friends are Catholic Spaniards, the son and daughter of Efraim's business partner. As Jaime and Meschianza grow older, Justina and Efraim are distressed to discover that their children are romatically involved with their Catholic friends, and fear for the survival of their Jewish tradition. But when the monarchy delivers a mandate to expel all Jews from Spain, Justina must choose between preserving her religious roots and saving her family's legacy. Her decision will forever alter the course of their destiny.

Siguiriya,  a gypsy lament, is at once a passionate story of ill-fated loves and breathtaking account of bravery and resilience, of religious tolerance and determination, and of family loyalty amid desperate circumstances