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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781475082845 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | CreateSpace Publishing |
| Publication date: | 03/28/2012 |
| Series: | The Catalan Family Saga , #1 |
| Pages: | 394 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.88(d) |
About the Author
In addition to THE HERETIC, Lew has published 3 other novels: THE POPE'S CONSPIRACY, a sequel to THE HERETIC set in Florence; A GOOD CONVICTION, the story of a young man convicted of a murder he didn't commit by a prosecutor who knew he was innocent; and CASE CLOSED, the story of what really happened in the 2001 anthrax attacks, which is far different from what the FBI asserts.
Lew was born in Camden, NJ, educated at Princeton and Harvard, and currently lives in Key West with his wife Pat Lenny. He has spoken about his novels at numerous Jewish book fairs and synagogues, and most recently presented a very well received description of how he records, organizes and uses the extensive historical research which is critical to his novels.
Lew's next novel, tentatively title A FLOOD OF EVIL, shows two young people, a German boy and a Polish girl, as they fall in love while at the same time committing their lives to attempts to stop the rise of Adolf Hitler. This is a fascinating look, from inside the Nazi structure, at those German and Church leaders who could have stopped Hitler before he gained power.
Read an Excerpt
"No. Don't go out there," she pleads.
"You stay inside," he orders. She shouts to her son. "Run! Get your father. Hurry!" She follows her father-in-law to the door, horrified by what she fears will happen. The old man reaches the street just as the first of them come around the corner. He walks straight at them — they shrink back — the crowd has not yet gained the courage to attack one who is not afraid. They shout. "Jewish pig!" "Christ killer!" "Devil worshipper!" He raises his hands, and surprisingly, the crowd quiets. "Why do you call me Jew?" he says softly. "I'm baptized just as you." "Liar! We know what you converso Jews do. You don't work on Saturday, and you don't eat pork. You just pretend to be Christian." "That's not true. I gave up the Jewish religion long ago. I wet my head in your baptismal water and I've been a good Christian ever since." He smiles, laughs almost, knowing they are not convinced, that nothing he says will ever change their minds. But he is not afraid. He stands taller. He is eerily calm. "You say I'm a Jew. Why? I don't pray to the God of Israel. I go to church and take the sacraments. My son is not circumcised." He turns away. They follow. He spins to face them. It is time, after so many years. Time to be a Jew. "Is this what you want?" he thunders. Deliberately, he places his high crowned hat on his head. He tugs under his cloak and removes a long white scarf, the Jewish prayer shawl, the tallit. He holds it solemnly in front of him, aged eyes straining to see faded words. He prays silently, in Hebrew: Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us by Thy commandments, and has commanded us to wrap ourselves in tallit. He raises and twists the tallit. The pure white fabric unfolds, soars majestically and lands gently on his shoulders. He lifts it to cover his head. His face is hidden. He closes his eyes tightly. He is in another place. He prays, she thinks, for the years he has lost, and perhaps also for the years ahead, though not for him: O God of Israel Who desires repentance, allow me to repent for the foolishness of my baptism. O God of Israel Who forgives, forgive me for willfully discarding Your commandments. O God of Israel Who redeems His people, accept me, and allow me once again to walk in Your ways. He raises his voice, knowing the effect the strange sounding Hebrew words will have.dja hwhy wnyhla hwhy larcy umc
Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. The crowd gasps. Swords are raised. "Jesus of Nazareth is not God!" he shouts. "There is only one God, and He is the God of Israel!" The first sword explodes against the side of his head, knocking his hat to the ground. A second shining blade slices into his shoulder. Bloodied, he does not fall. He says the Hebrew words slowly, powerfully.
duw \lwul ...wtwklm ...dwbk \c ...]wrb
Blessed ... is the Name of His glorious ... Kingdom ... for all eternity. The bloody sword flashes again, and he smiles, the last act of his life. Now they all find courage. They know how to stomp on a dead man. Clubs and stones obliterate his features. Stabs to his chest. His tunic dark red. She hears the horses a split second before the mob looks up. Her husband runs into the square, six armed men behind him. The mob retreats, its anger spent. He wraps the body of his father in his cloak, cradles the corpse gently in his arms, walks slowly into the house. The young boy bends to retrieve his grandfather's bloody tallit from where it has fallen.
What People are Saying About This
The Heretic is a sweeping historical tale of love, honor, justice,
religion and morality, meticulously researched and wonderfully exciting.
— author, Faye Kellerman
The Heretic is the best fiction I have encountered using Sephardic
history as a backdrop . a first rate job of recreating the complex tragedy
and drama of Jewish life in 15th century Spain.
—Professor Jane S. Gerber, Director, Institute for Sephardic Studies, CUNY
The Heretic is compelling and emotional . an impassioned cry for tolerance that echoes through the centuries . The Church has treated Jews horribly over the years and we were wrong. It is important for Catholics to know what was done .if we are to continue Pope John Paul's initiatives to build a different path to the future.
—Msgr. Thomas J. Hartman, Director of Telecare, God Squad ...
This book should come with a WARNING label: Don't start reading unless you're prepared to put everything else aside until you finish. Set in 15th century Spain on the eve of the Inquisition, The Heretic is powerful, riveting, and inspiring. I was both impressed and touched. It should be a must read for Catholics and Jews. (David A. Harris, The American Jewish Committee)
I want to tell you how much I appreciate The Heretic. Its historical view, the vividness of portraying characters and situations, surrounded me immediately and made me feel in situ. It also reminded me of many moments in my life when discrimination and hatred were all around. I will recommend The Heretic to my Christian friends. (Rabbi Leon Klenicki, Department of Interfaith Affairs, Anti Defamation League
The Spanish Inquisition of which you write in The Heretic was just one tragic event out of many in the Jewish-Catholic encounter since the last millennium began. As we freely admit the sins of many of our Catholic brothers and sisters over the centuries, we can move on, hopefully liberated by the truth and reminded by it to challenge hatred and intolerance in our present time. (John Cardinal O'Connor, former Archbishop of New York)
The historical novel that is both true to the past and relevant to the present is rare indeed. The Heretic helps us to understand why the Pope is correct in insisting that the Catholic Church do much more to seek tschuva - forgiveness and
redemption - for its monumental sins and crimes against the Jewish people.
. Jews suffered physically during the Inquisition . the Church lost its
soul. This book humanizes both aspects of the tragic history of religious
persecution.
—Alan M. Dershowitz, author, Just Revenge ...
The Heretic portrays a chapter in the history of our people that every knowledgeable Jew should understand. It was a prelude to everything that came later. (Miles Lerman, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum)
Don't start reading The Heretic unless you're prepared to put
everything else aside . powerful, riveting, and inspiring . a must read for
Catholics and Jews.
—David A. Harris, Executive Director, The American Jewish Committee
Introduction
I wrote The Heretic with the goal of creating a story of great adventure, tender love, and deep emotion. But, all along, The Heretic was more than a story to me. Jews have been scorned, persecuted and murdered for centuries. As a Jew, I wanted to understand why. Then I wanted to create characters living with that hatred, so that readers could vicariously feel the impact, anger, and terror, and revolt against the horrors of religious persecution. The Spanish Inquisition, one of the most venal of all human institutions and a travesty of the Christian ideals it purported to uphold, is a perfect setting in which to explore issues of Christian anti-Judaism which are central to the history of contempt and persecution of Jews. The recent apology by Pope John Paul II for the sins of the Catholic Church against the Jewish people has made The Heretic very relevant to the ongoing Catholic-Jewish interfaith dialogue because it portrays the very sins which made the Pope's unprecedented statement so necessary.