Noah Gordon, página 4 de 10

En 1492, les Juifs sont expulsés d'Espagne par décret royal. Un jeune garçon, Yonah, fils d'un orfèvre juif, est forcé de prendre la fuite après l'assassinat de toute sa famille. En mémoire de ses pa

Criat en un gueto del barris jueus, Michael Kind va viure a Nova York. El tràgic record d�un poble perseguit, herència del seu avi, la presència d�un Déu inefable, llegat del rabí i educador Max Gros

In the year 1492, the Inquisition has all of Spain in its grip. After centuries of pogrom-like riots encouraged by the Church, the Jews - who have been an important part of Spanish life since the days of the Romans - are expelled from the country by royal edict. Many who wish to remain are intimidated by Church and Crown and become Catholics, but several hundred thousand choose to retain their religion and depart; given little time to flee, some perish even before they can escape from Spain. Yonah Toledano, the 15-year-old son of a celebrated Spanish silversmith, has seen his father and brother die during these terrible days - victims whose murders go almost unnoticed in a time of mass upheaval. Trapped in Spain by circumstances, he is determined to honor the memory of his family by remaining a Jew. On a donkey named Moise, Yonah begins a meandering journey, a young fugitive zigzagging across the vastness of Spain. Toiling at manual labor, he desperately tries to cling to his memories of a vanished culture. As a lonely shepherd on a mountaintop he hurls snatches of almost forgotten Hebrew at the stars, as an apprentice armorer he learns to fight like a Christian knight. Finally, as a man living in a time and land where danger from the Inquisition is everywhere, he deals with the questions that mark his past. How he discovers the answers, how he finds his way to a singular and strong Marrano woman, how he achieves a life with the outer persona of a respected Old Christian physician and the inner life of a secret Jew, is the fabric of this novel. The Last Jew is a glimpse of the past, an authentic tale of high adventure, and a tender and unforgettable love story. In it, Noah Gordon utilizes his greatest strengths, and the result is remarkable and moving.

The first time R.J. defies her beloved father is when she is born a female; the second, when she opts to study law rather than medicine. Yet destiny is to overtake her when, for the first time, R.J. Cole realises that she has inherited The Gift. Holding the hand of a sick man, R.J. feels a dreadful certainty that he is going to die; tragically, the patient is no stranger but her own lover. Struggling with her grief, R.J. knows she must bow to the inevitable, and become a doctor. At first she combines her new talent with her legal work on cases where medical advice is needed, and her diagnostic skill combined with The Gift make her an invaluable consultant.But her life changes when she moves to a small town practice and is faced with a terrible dilemma - and an important choice to make...

'Solo delante de las casas abandonadas, Yonah se sentó a la sombra de un plátano. Trazó distraídamente cuatro puntos en la tierra: uno representaba a los cristianos viejos de España, otro a los moros y el tercero a los cristianos nuevos. El cuarto punto representaba a Yonah ben Helkias Toledano. Sabía que no era un judío como su padre ni las generaciones que lo habían precedido. En lo más hondo de su corazón hubiera deseado ser como ellos, pero ya se había convertido en otra cosa. Ahora su verdadera religión era la de ser un judío de simple supervivencia. Se había dedicado a vivir en solitario y se había mantenido siempre al margen de todo.'