A song, a faith, and an instrument unite four young girls across centuries and continents in Ruth Behar’s tale of the mass expulsions of Jewish families from Spain in 1492. Behar tells the story first through the eyes of Benvenida, a talented twelve-year-old poet, who is forced to flee her country to protect her faith. Benvenida and her family navigate terrible danger and travel across Spain on foot to board a ship to save their lives.

At every turn of the journey, Behar has her young readers in mind. She skillfully hints at the terrible violence Jewish families faced and the losses they suffered while never directly depicting that violence. Benvenida is a sensitive and protected child, and the author applies that same protection to her young readers.

What Behar does reveal to her audience is the unequal treatment of girls and women throughout history. When the story jumps across time to 1923, we meet twelve-year-old musician, Reina. Benvenida’s artistic spirit is alive and well in her distant Turkish relative, but that same fearless spirit leads to Reina’s exile to Cuba. Like so many before her, Reina transports her Sephardic culture to a foreign land.

While the young girls in this story face marginalization and violence, their strengths remain rooted in family, faith, and music. Although loss and heartache dominate the novel’s first half, love and remembrance dominate the second half. As Reina’s story moves to the present day and becomes her daughter’s and granddaughter’s story, a narrative of remembrance and healing unfolds. It is remarkable to watch not only these personal journeys but also the journey of belief and culture that has united a people for over 500 years. I highly recommend it for ages 10 and up.

Such a beautiful story told by four different girls over a 500 year time frame. I learned so much from this lovely historical fiction book, I thought it was nonfiction!

I love a family saga, and this one was no exception! Behar had me hooked from the get-go, and though I do love the family saga, I often feel sad when we "switch" main characters because I want to follow their stories further. I felt that a little when reading this, but Behar did such a great job in making you invested in all the women in this family.

This is a lovely middle-grade historical fiction book! Spanning multiple generations, we’re brought on a beautiful story that connects four women over time. It’s heart-felt and compelling and while this book is middle-grade, I think it’s a great read for anyone hoping to understand more about their history and how their stories connect with their family.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book. Definitely recommend it!

I'm always up for learning about bits of history that are new to me. I was aware of the expulsion of Jews from Europe but the rest of the journeys here were unfamiliar. It was interesting to see these different girls and how the culture of the area and the time contributes to their behavior and how they see themselves. Its a sort of slow and meandering read. Really only suitable for a more literary minded reader.

I liked that this was a multi-generational story. I really felt for each of the characters in these settings and enjoy getting to know this family. It had a great concept and was executed perfectly. Ruth Behar has a fantastic writing style for these characters and getting to the meat of the story.I enjoyed the way the characters were written and that they felt like realistic people. It was great to see the arts. Bring each generation together and be able to grow and evolve from each from their ancestors.

I knew Ruth Behar told a great story, but Across So Many Seas is so much more than a great story. We start in Toledo Spain in 1492 at the time of the Expulsion of the Jews. Each successive character is a twelve year girl in the line of a family of Sephardic Jews that choses Faith over Country and flees Spain for Turkey, where a more tolerant acceptance of all faiths is practiced. Each girl holds strong to her Sephardic heritage despite the journey she must take - across the sea to Naples, across the sea to Cuba, across the sea to Miami, and across the sea to Spain - coming full circle as Spain is beginning to come to terms with their cruel treatment of Sephardic Jews in 1492. (and during the rest of the Spanish Inquisition years) Just beautiful

"The past is a lost country. You can only imagine it like a dream."

Jewish history tends to be murky. Many of us can only trace our roots back a generation or two, either because of sorrows our elders don't want to pass down or our records being destroyed as we flee from country to country. So to read a book tracing a Sephardic Jewish family over the many generations after their expulsion in 1492 was something I was very excited to read.

This book is a beautiful tribute to that murky past and gives us a chance to see history through the eyes of four 12-year-old girls, each living through a turbulent time in history. It's a story about faith and family bond, and finding and making a home. I loved that we were able to read so much history in such a short book.

I think this book would be best for ages 9+

3.5 stars. This was such a cute book! It features 4 different 12 year old girls, each in a different time period. The last three are grandmother, mother and daughter, and it was fun seeing their similarities and differences each at 12 years old. I loved seeing how aspects of each story tied together at the end in Paloma’s story.

One reason I enjoyed this book was because of the history- the Inquisition, Jews in Turkey, Jews in Cuba…. So many things I was unaware of and enjoyed learning about. The author’s note was especially helpful with that.

This engrossing historical novel captivated me. Although it is a middle grade novel, I found this story of four different generations that span over 500 years quite interesting. Many readers will know a little about the Inquisition but may not know about the 1492 Declaration of Expulsion. Any Jew who did not convert, had to leave Spain or face death. The Sephardim, descendants of these refugees, found themselves in various countries, often needing to uproot themselves time and time again. Jews travel from one country to the next, leaving home and bringing a bit of the culture with them.

Behar starts with the story of a young girl whose family must leave. We follow her from the reading of the Declaration to the ship that sails away from her beloved Spain. This story provides the background so that readers can understand the rest of the story. A descendent in Turkey, her daughter who travels to Cuba, and her granddaughter who is born in Miami. The book is sprinkled with Ladino, the Spanish language from centuries ago that they carried with them, and some can still speak today. The grandmother has a lovely voice, and the book is permeated with Ladino ballads. The book tells of hardship and leaving one’s home, but eventually comes full circle. I accessed this book through Netgalley, and can honestly recommend it to youngsters and adults alike.

The way all the different points of view were connected and the way the histories connected as we moved through time and place along with them was incredibly interesting. These were time
periods that held frustrating and unfair treatments of whole groups of people, and the way that affected and moved people across so many seas is something worth discussing and delving into with the middle grade readers who will pick up this book!

Four twelve-year-old girls experience the difficulties of migration while sharing a common bond of family, poetry, and heritage. First Benvenida and her family have to flee Spain because they are Jewish during the Spanish Inquisition in 1492. Hundreds of years later in 1923, Reina is sent from Istanbul to live with her aunt in Cuba and later be in an arranged marriage. Reina's daughter, Alegra, becomes a brigadista teaching literacy for Fidel Castro until she has to flee to Miami without her parents. Finally, Alegra's daughter, Paloma, goes on a trip to Spain that will tie her family stories together.

I loved the concept of this book. I love the concepts of heritage and finding the things that you love that have also been important to your ancestors. I love books that talk about groups of people who are marginalized, banished, or otherwise suffer poor treatment and how they manage to keep the things important to them in spite of tragedy and pain. I also love books about Jewish people that aren't centered around the Holocaust because there is so much more to the rich cultural and religious Jewish heritage than that.

I very much appreciated the research and details that went into each of the times of the girls. My favorite part was actually the afterward with resources to learn more about the time periods in the book. I love that these stories are inspired by the writer's own family, and it's clear that this book was written with a lot of love for those elements.

I also appreciate how hopeful the book is in spite of the terrible things that each girl is going for, especially considering how dark the world can seem today. I imagine that this book will be a breath of fresh air and a ray of hope for many readers. The book covers topics like antisemitism, misogyny, death, exile, and arranged marriages but the tone overall is still hopeful, mostly due to the continuing generations of girls finding comfort in songs and heritage.

Unfortunately, although I loved so many aspects of the book's concept, I didn't enjoy reading the book as much as I hoped. There were two reasons for this. First, because we spend such a short time with each girl and the book emphasizes what they have in common, they all seem the same. I couldn't remember their names or how they were different even in the middle of reading the book. The writing style is also, understandably, the same for each girl, which makes it even harder to tell them apart. Because the writing style is somewhat unique and sounds like an individual voice, when it's the same voice for four girls, it made the girls seem less developed to me.

I'm very much a character reader. If I'm not feeling connected to the characters, it's harder for me to engage in a book. Because of the switch in perspectives and the relatively short length of the book, I was losing interest and started skimming through sections toward the end of the book.

However, I do think this is an incredibly important book. With the rise of public and private antisemitism, more parents are trying to find ways to talk to their kids about antisemitism. This book is an age-appropriate and historical look at how anti-semitism has affected generations. It also shows how Jewish people have been able to hold on to their religion and even language and cultural elements like poetry and music in spite of that hate.

I also love that this book covers Latino Sephardic Jewish heritage, something you rarely see in literature but especially literature for young people. Along the way, it also shows these girls developing close ties to people of other races and religious traditions, making the book diverse and inclusive.

Although I didn't love this book personally because of the writing style and the difficulty relating to the multiple POV characters, there is certainly a lot to love about it. I would happily recommend it to young (and older!) readers who want to read about migration from the perspective of young people or people who are interested in family and cultural ties. The hope and connection of these girls through time is a wonderful concept especially when things today can be so uncertain and alarming. I didn't love this book, but I am certain that many people will. More importantly, this is the kind of book and the kind of stories that help make the world better by showing the things that tie us together across generations, religions, cultures, countries, and races.

History is filled with stories of people who have been marginalized and forced to assimilate because of their differences from the dominant culture, and these experiences make an impact on future generations. This particular story follows one Jewish family over the course of over 500 years, as young women make significant choices in the wake of major events taking place around them. From the Spanish Inquisition, to the battle for Turkish Independence, to the Cuban Revolution, to the early twenty-first century, young girls crossed many seas in order to survive. And as each young woman reflects on the past, she feels the thread of her ancestors guiding her on her path through the power of music, love, and shared experience.

This historical fiction novel is unique among middle grade stories in that it features several important moments from global history while featuring a Jewish family of Spanish descent. In each new situation, Jewish people are ostracized for their beliefs, and it requires crossing great distances to find new places to settle in peace. Despite the challenges they face, however, each family leans into their cultural heritage even while navigating the novel dominant society in which they land. And their shared journeys overcoming myriad struggles showcase the tenacity that can be passed down within families.

Each segment of this book follows a different twelve-year-old girl within a shared extended family that reaches back several generations. Told in the first person, this book permits readers to see into the minds of the characters as they are experiencing prejudice, often from within their own families. Though the voices are not tremendously unique from one another, their stories are different enough that it is easy to separate them in one’s mind. Because the novel is inspired by the author’s own family background, the love and connection the author feels for the subject matter is palpable throughout the book. Middle grade readers will come away from this novel with a fresh perspective on Jewish culture in the world, and they will appreciate the tenacity and perseverance displayed by the young women in the story. This is a unique and ultimately satisfying historical fiction novel for middle grade readers.

I read Ruth Behar's Lucky Broken Girl and enjoyed it so I was excited to read this new book. It's the story of four girls throughout the ages and is the story of the Sephardic Jewish diaspora. Each part of the book was a story unto itself and also had a lot of details on place and time. And of course continuity with a touching end. I think readers will enjoy the story and also be sparked to learn more about Jewish history. The only thing that could have made it better would have been some recipes at the end! I got hungry just reading this book. But Behar has a lengthy afterward and lists resources so the avid reader can dig even deeper.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. It's the kind of book both adults and children will enjoy.

This lyrical story follows the story of four different girls in four different parts of the world in four different time periods. Wow, what a journey. You are going to love each of these young ladies as they contribute their part to their family’s history.