by Sarah Bower
“King Ferdinand’s conscience does not extend beyond the worshippers of the false messiah as the Moors found out. For hundreds of years they pave roads, make water systems, light the streets, and he destroys them on a whim of his wife.”
“And you would destroy us on a whim of yours? We have three months before the edict comes into force. I will go now, with the boys, and you and Esther will follow, before the three months is up, so you will be perfectly safe. Besides, I need you here to oversee the sale of all our property. Who else can I trust?”
“Here, then.” I heard a scrape of wood on stone as my mother leapt up from her chair. I dared not move from my bed to look out of the window in case the beam of her rage should focus on me. “Here is your plate. I will fill it and take it to the beggars in the street. If you go, you will die.”
“Leah, Leah.” My father’s conciliatory rumble. China smashing.
“Don’t move. If you tread the marzipan into the tiles I will never get them clean.” Then my mother burst into tears and the trickle of fear turned to a torrent of cold sweat, so when my nurse came in to see why I was crying, she thought I had a fever beginning and forced me to drink one of her foul tasting tisanes.
“I’m sorry, Haim,” I heard my mother say before the infusion took effect and sent me to sleep. My father made no response and I heard nothing more but clothes rustling against each other and the small, wet sound of kissing that made me cover my ears with my pillow.
***
A week later, my father and my three brothers, Eli, Simeon, and Little Haim, together with several other men from our community, left Toledo to make the journey to Italy, where many of the rulers of that land’s multitude of tyrannies and city states were known to tolerate the Jews and to be wary of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, whose approach to statecraft was not pragmatic enough for them. Even the Kingdom of Naples, which was ruled by relatives of the king, was said to be content to receive refugees from among the exiles of Jerusalem. My father, however, intended to go to Rome. The pope is dying, he explained, and there is a Spanish cardinal prepared to spend a lot of money to buy the office when the time comes. This Cardinal Borja will be needing a reliable banker. We were unsure what a pope was, or a cardinal, and Borja sounded more like a Catalan name than a Spanish one to us, and a Catalan is as trustworthy as a gypsy, but my father’s smile was so confident, his teeth so brilliant amid the black brush of his beard, that we had no option but to nod our agreement, bite back our tears, and tell him we would see him in Rome.
Acknowledgments
Many people have contributed to the making of this book. My warmest thanks are due first and foremost to Emma Barnes and Gilly Barnard at Snowbooks, Stephanie Thwaites and all at Curtis Brown, and Shana Drehs and all at Sourcebooks. Thanks also to Mary Allen, Mary-Jane Cullen, Patricia Duncker, Sara Fisher, Sue Fletcher, Ryan Gattis, Christina Johnson, Paul Magrs, Sarah Molloy, Andrew Motion, Ingrid Perrin, Michele Roberts, and not forgetting Mark, Guy and Hugh for their forbearance and unfailing optimism. Finally, I would like to make special mention of Bernardine Coverley, whose steady encouragement and gentle criticism was invaluable. She is missed more than she can know.
About the Author
Sarah Bower has worked at an assortment of jobs, from call centres to market stalls. After many years working in the charitable sector, she became a professional writer and creative writing tutor after completing an MA in creative writing at the University of East Anglia. She lives in the country with her husband, two dogs, and a geriatric cat.
Table of Contents
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Epiphany
Odo’s Smile
Service
Choice
Odo’s Dream
Blood Letting
Fables
Flood
The Feast of Saint Odo
Purification
Swansong
Virgins of the Mind
A Turn of the Wheel
Triumvirate
The Fall
Witchcraft
The Miracle
Pearl
Beloved Ghost
Afterword
An excerpt from Sins of the House of Borgia
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Back Cover
