What an exciting lovely mystery! Five hundred years ago a Jewish couple got married in Fez, North Africa and their marriage contract called a ketuba, is found along with 23 more marriage contracts for the same family down to this generation in an old safe in the family Judaica store in Manhattan.
Alma shows her grandmother the box of ketubahs and her grandmother goes through the box and finds a large gold ring with a bird engraving etched on the flat bezel. Grandma cannot remember why the ring is important, her memory is not as good as it used to be when she was younger.
Alma is applying for the Spanish Heritage Project Course at New York University which includes a trip to Spain to research family history. She is working at a Judaica store when she meets a man named Manuel, a student who is originally from Spain who helps her carry a box down the stairs. Alma meets Manuel again at the university where they are taking the Spanish Heritage Course together.
They discover that they are both looking for records to complete their family genealogy.
They decide to become study partners and as they discuss their backgrounds, they find out that they are on opposite sides of the spectrum, Alma is a Jew whose ancestors had to escape from Spain to Morocco in order to escape persecution and Manuel's family have been Spanish Catholics as far back as he can remember.
They get to Spain and they start looking for their history, you will be amazed to find out what happened back in the 1500's during the Inquisition that cemented their family's relationship forever and that solves the mystery of the ring.

50 Shades of Scrupulosity?  "By Light of Hidden Candles" by Daniella Levy

Alma and Manuel are college students in cell-phone contemporary New York, yet they are so chaste and scrupulous they blush at the mere thought of a kiss. He is a cradle Catholic considering the priesthood; she, like her ancestors, would rather die than compromise her Jewish faith. From the moment they meet, these two are attracted and repelled, forbidden to marry someone who’d never convert, so strong is the religion they were raised in.

Ethics and theology comprise a surprising amount of the dialogue. I love it. More novels could explore the contrast in core values of the heroine and hero, exchanging ideas instead of swapping bodily fluids. I’m mystified that 50 Shades of clinical sex and sado-maso-bondage (BSM?)  sells so well, while thoughtful and meaningful discourse is left to collect dust on old shelves.

It’s rare and refreshing to find a novel where 20-somethings love history and get excited by documents that are centuries old.  (Genealogists will love this.)

Instead of dodging bullets and villains, these two engage in research. They drink coffee (or not, if the cream isn’t kosher for Alma), they tour historical sites during a semester abroad in Spain, and they fight their ever-growing but forbidden attraction to each other.

The narrative alternates between Miriam, a Jewish teenager in  15th Century Spain. Her mom has risked death (and died!) rather than make a pretense of converting to Catholicism while practicing Judaism in secret. An entire sect of Jews did in fact go that route, posing as Catholics to avoid extermination or exile, but many would die before they’d live a lie.

Miriam follows her mother’s example, choosing exile (and another great sacrifice as well) rather than pretend to be Catholic. Her integrity comes at great cost to others. (No spoiler from me, but—oy!) Much as I admire the Jewish people and love their wit, humor, and intellect, there comes a point when so much scrupulosity  just drives me crazy. God is great, but science is more real and immediate to me. Billions of people with different beliefs, different traditions, diets, and habits share the same planet. But I will save this rant some other time, some other place.

Others have summarized the plot, so I’ll just highlight a few excerpts that make this novel so rich, historic, and satisfying:
"Judaism is the most obsessive-compulsive religion on the planet," says the heroine, herself a devout Jew who practices kosher no matter how expensive, challenging, difficult, or inconvenient.  But there is a sense of the divine in these rituals. "...you have to really know, and think about, where that food comes from, before you take a bite of literally anything. A lot of these laws help us live more consciously that way."

With religions, with marriage, with anything, this is what defines us or distinguishes us: 'It's the little things, the routine things," and I’ve heard this from Catholics as well as our Jewish heroine: "It’s something so deep, so much a part of who I am, I'm not sure I can really put it into words."

I love the way Levy’s narrative includes a mini-history lesson of Spain, Morocco, Granada, the Inquisition; a people, a time, a culture. Sephardi Jews are a small minority in the US, and Moroccan Jews an ever smaller minority. If one were really observant, the Jews posing as Catholics would sometimes give themselves away. One way is something as simple as breaking open eggs and inspecting them before they hit the skillet. (Read the book to see how this small detail signifies something huge.)

Levy’s love of Judaism is evident, but her portrayal of the Catholic faith comes up short. I wouldn’t expect her to understand the nuances of both faiths. 

To me, both are founded on things that common sense or scientific observation could sweep aside. E.g., forbidding marshmallows because they contain a pork product – where are the casualties and epidemics when someone eats pork? Is there something in our DNA to make certain people unable to eat cheeseburgers without contaminating their souls, while others live to be a hundred in spite of eating pork or beef from a cow that wasn’t strangled the kosher way? Billions of other people do, and who’s to say whose soul is jeopardized, who is irreverent or disrespectful, and who is pragmatic, adapting to changing world situations, whatever it takes to survive.

It is a testament to the author’s story telling talent that she can write about people who drive me crazy but get me to care about them. She also gets me to use willing suspension of disbelief, especially with the idea that one woman could tell a story to her granddaughter, who would in turn tell her granddaughter, until 26 generations of this finally end in “Mission Accomplished.” 

Satisfying, gratifying, lovely story, mystical and magical, in a way that reminds us what we call "magic" is often the sort of blessing that comes to those who believe.

By the Light of the Hidden Candles
I received this advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 
Miriam is a Jewish girl who lives in Spain with her Dad in the 15th century at the time of the Jews being expelled from Spain. A Christian family,  Miriam's father does business with helps them escape from Spain to Morocco. 
Alma is a Sephardic Jewish girl in the present time whose ancestry goes back to 15th century Spain. Her grandmother has a collection of Ketubahs (Jewish marriage contracts) for each female going back to their origin from Spain. Alma takes up genealogy research at university traveling to Spain to research her family's roots.
Manuel is also studying genealogy at university, he is Christian, who moved with his mother from Spain to the US and possibly wants to become a priest. He ends up being Alma's research mate, he also is researching his family's roots from Spain.
The novel alternates with the story of these three main characters going back and forth in time. Manuel's and Alma's stories are told in first person,  Miriam's is in third person. I found a lot of similarities in Miriam's and Alma's story lines, especially that both deeply religious Jewish women were attracted to Christian men and were struggling with their feelings. 
I enjoyed reading this book, as an Ashkenazi Jew, I definitely learned about the Sephardic Jews and their history. I didn't have a problem with going back and forth in the two time periods, they were fairly seemless. I know this novel is historical fiction and FICTION it is, some of the coincidences Alma and Manuel discover through their research in Spain is just way too unbelievable and very far fetched. That's where I had to take off at least one star. The title refers to those Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity, but secretly they were practicing their Jewish customs, they were the conversos. 
Without giving away the ending, it's also somewhat contrite. 
Although there is a glossary at the end of the book, many conversations in Spanish are not translated in the story and the non Spanish speaking reader is not understanding everything. 
Overall, an enjoyable book, probably 3.5 stars but I am giving it four stars. 
Thanks NetGalley, the publisher and the author, Daniella Levy for the advanced copy.

As a Jew, I found this book very interesting and easy to read although i doubt whether it would have the same impact on a non-Jew.  Although the story was very predictable it was, however, engrossing and from a historical point of view, fascinating. 

There were many sections of the book which were rather amateurishly written, but on the whole,  it made a fairly "good read" particularly for a Book Club.  I would give it three stars.

Thanks to the publisher for giving me the opportunity of reading it through NetGalley.

I first found out about By Light of Hidden Candles by Daniella Levy when the author asked people to vote on cover candidates for this book on the Goodreads group Jewish Historical Fiction.  I voted for the cover that Levy decided to use.  So I recognized it when I saw it on Net Galley which is my source for this ARC.   By Light of Hidden Candles won't be published until October 2017.
                                                                     
The historical aspect of this novel deals with 15th century Spain.   Long before I began blogging, I had read quite a bit about Jews during this period.    The only time I've approached the subject on this blog was when I reviewed The Mapmaker's Daughter by Laurel Corona here.  Corona's book was set apart by her highly accomplished female protagonist.

What makes By Light of Hidden Candles different is that it's a dual period novel.   We pretty much know where the 15th century Jewish characters will end up because Alma, their 21st century descendant, already knew that information.  This necessarily lessens the suspense in the historical story line.  So the central drama of the narrative involves the contemporary characters, what they will discover about their ancestors, how they will discover it and the impact that learning about their ancestors will have on them.
 

I was most interested in the Spanish Catholic contemporary protagonist,  Manuel Aguilar, who we first encounter unexpectedly walking into a Judaica store in New York.   Readers may think they know why he entered that store, but this is a complex character whose motivations aren't completely clear even to himself.  Readers come to know Manuel through the process of his own grappling with his faith, values and identity.


I very much enjoyed the fact that Alma and Manuel found history as compelling and meaningful as I do.   They are excited by finding documents that are centuries old.  Any readers who don't think that history has any real relevance will be amazed by the power of research to change the lives of Alma and Manuel.  As someone who absolutely loves archives, I was delighted by a novel where the entire plot turns on a mention of an ancestor in archival records.


Although the contemporary story has a less obvious ending than the historical plot, there is an element of predictability for the contemporary characters.  The strong sense of destiny at work plus other factors that are spoilers made me realize how the contemporary plotline would resolve very early in my reading.  So very little was surprising in By Light of Hidden Candles,  yet I was still moved by the characters and their relationships.


 I recommend this book to people  who want to read about family history and genealogy that makes a difference in the way people see themselves.

This book was a pure joy to read!  Beautifully written and a so full of information --- this very moving and emotional book touch my heart and soul.  Friendships, faith and love all come together to create a lasting memory of a book.  Thank you so much for the opportunity to have read this title prior to publication---I just loved it!

"The Spanish Heritage Project:  Research your Family's Past with NYU Madrid"  This whole idea excited Alma, whose Grandma  had recently entrusted her with some family history information.  A ketuba is a Jewish marriage contract, and Mimi had these for the women in her family dating back five hundred years.  Grandma also has a ring which has been passed down through the generations, but which belongs to a family who helped this Sephardic family during the Spanish Inquisition.  And she wants it returned to one of their descendants.

Manuel's gentile family has also traced the history back to Spain in the 1500's, and is interested in the program because his father believed they were related to one of the old noble families of Castile.  

Alma and Manuel embark on a study year in Spain to research their heritage, overcoming obstacles and relentlessly pursuing their goals, while the story of the 15th century families plays in the background.

A most enjoyable read.  Genealogists will love it.  So will you.

I really enjoyed this book. The main characters expressed the importance of their religion, and their religious culture, in a really beautiful and moving way.  This was particularly true of the descriptions of Judaism, and the inter-generational and historical significance of the main characters belief system.  

The descriptions of Christianity, and it's importance in the lives and families of the characters, were somewhat flat and one dimensional.  It seems one-sided that the male character is so willing to explore and learn about Judaism, whereas the female character will not do the same regarding Christianity.  Explorations of Christianity were mostly limited to historical antisemitism.  Both religions have deep traditions and beauty, but the book was a bit one sided in the telling.

Ultimately, this book was a love story.  The romantic aspect of the plot was rather predictable.  However, it was still fun to see it unfold.  I like the way that the author resolved the romantic part of the plot in the end.

Despite it's flaws, I still really enjoyed this book.  It was an interesting read.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC . When i first began reading the book, i wasn't sure if i would like it or not. As i continued reading it, i found myself drawn to the plot. I enjoyed how the book flashed from present to past. I was especially interested in Miriam's story. Although this was a very long book to read (368 pages), it went fast. I also learned a lot about the Jewish faith and customs; the only thing i didn't like about the book was that at times, the book felt like a textbook from one of my religious studies class when i was in college and so i found myself skimming some of the passages. I just wanted it to get back to the main plot of the story, The ending was a little abrupt but all in all, i definitely recommend  this book.

"By Light of Hidden Candles" is about such a fascinating time of history of Inquisition-era Spain, Sephardic Jews and falling in love. There are so few books about it, and it has been a long time since those events. However, the writing fell apart for me. The sentences are so not rich, the tradition is only in the vocabulary, the dialogues are so shallow, the text is peppered with ketuba or havdala but there is no actual feel of it. The very chapter has a word "inshallah" in a dialogue, I was very surprised, so I went to see the author's background. To my dismay I found out that Daniella Levy is a rabbi's wife, and more than anyone she should understand the non Jewish background of "inshallah". I hope it was a typo or an editor's mistake.

All in all it was a long way from Alice Hoffman, I wish it were better because it has a lot of potential.

Last time I read a book with shifting perspective I found it difficult to follow and did not finish it.  THIS time was very different and I really enjoyed he shift as each chapter rolled over to the next.
"By Light of Hidden Candles" shifts perspective between two characters in the present day written in the first person and a group of characters in the past written in narrative.  Alma and Manuel are the two main characters in the current era and I found myself rooting for them to find a united future, through all the difficulties they faced.  All characters are well written, taking into account the internal struggles each would have been facing.
Having traced my own family history a fair way (thanks to relatives who did a lot of the work if I'm honest), I have a suspicion that one particular family left their home nation due to religious persecution, so reading the chapters set in the past was fascinating as I learned details about the era of the Spanish inquisition that I had no idea about before reading this book.  

I have a few favourite moments from the book.  In one of the chapters set in the past the Jewish young lady accidentally has her head scarf fall from her shoulders and the Catholic young man stares politely at the ground while she rearranges her scarf.  That acknowledgment from him of something he understood was important to her, was beautiful, as was the blessing given to the main female character by her grandmother. 

I also found moments that were insightful in terms of my own spiritual struggles, particularly a section that explored the way the two faiths address the subject of doubt.  To summarise, this is a book that I will come back to, only this time with journal and pen in hand and I am really hoping for a sequel.  I want to know what comes next for these two.

Seemingly impossible, beautifully and meticulously and detailed research makes this a story that was poignant, emotional, romantic, historically fascinating and also hopeful.

Animosity against Jews has been universal. It has existed for hundreds of years. We go back five hundred years in this story where a seemingly impossible love existed between a Christian and a Jew and a ring that has come down twenty three generations with a message to each generation that they must find the Christian family who saved a Jew and gave them this ring, and return it to them.

To Alma and Manuel a Jew and a Catholic trying to trace ancestry - one this improbably owner of the ring and the other his father's dying dream of establishing their precedents, two more unlikely youngsters one couldn't imagine. Alma is orthodox Jewish follows the laws and customs of her people, Manuel is on the verge of joining a seminary. Both families look askance at the friendship. Both families are cautious where this will go though both Alma and Manuel have no romantic feelings for each other. 

The story is convoluted, long and goes back and forth in time. Told in separate time frames going back five hundred years and then hopping across to the present times is not easy but the author handles this seamlessly. You never have a sense of being jarred out of the twentieth century and then going back to the fourteenth. It is a very smooth transition.

I enjoyed the story very much - all its facets. History, religion, romance, geography the works. 

I cannot find a link to Goodreads and Amazon where I normally place the reviews of books I read. Review on my blog would appear  on 0/8/2017. If there is any other site you would like me to review this book please let me know.

Growing up in an Ashkenazi family I really didn't know that much about the Sephardic Jews. This novel while being educational was also a pleasure to read. Determined to discover her ancestors Alma made a promise to her grandmother but ran into seemingly roadblocks. With the help of Manuel, also looking for his family's past they find a future.

I absolutely loved everything about this book.  I thought the introduction of the characters was done well and the character development throughout the book was as well. The subject matter is of interest to me, and I'm very aware of the differences between Ashkenazim & Sepharadim and the customs, foods, etc. I thought that the interaction between the main characters was depicted very well, and the reader was made to feel as it he/she knew them personally. I also thought that the interaction between the characters and their families as well as their clergy was well represented, and very real.  I truly loved everything about the story and even learned a few new things (which is never a bad thing!) I thought that the story was well developed and the historical portions were very realistically portrayed.  I found the book to flow easily and frankly, I couldn't put it down!  I would recommend it highly.

By Light of Hidden Candles by Daniella Levy tells the story of Alma, a devout Jew on a journey to Madrid to uncover the secret of her families past. We also meet Manuel, Alan's research partner, and a Catholic who wants to become a priest. Intertwined between both their stories is the story of Miriam, a Jew during the Spanish inquisition. 

This is a beautiful tale of devotion to one's faith as well as a journey from questioning one's beliefs to finding them and returning home. Being interested in both history and Judaism this book was perfect. We are taught a little about Judaism and the Spanish Inquisition as well. 

I loved journeying with Alma to Madrid to discover her families heritage. I really connected with Manuel, as he is interested in learning about Judaism and I have always felt close to it as well. I just wish there were more books like this out there. Maybe there are and I haven't encountered them yet? 

I recommend this book to fans of historical fiction, Judaism, mysteries, or all three. I read this book in one sitting, I loved it. I'm not sure I can do this book justice, please read it for yourself, you won't be disappointed.

I acknowledge that I received this book free or charge from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. Thank you.