The Silver Candlesticks - by Linda Chavez (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Guiomar's life and love are upended when she learns her family are secret Jews living in the shadow of the Grand Inquisitor's dungeons.

The Silver Candlesticks is the story of a young woman who learns her family is Jewish just as the Spanish Inquisition grips Sevilla. A new Inquisitor, Padre Ignacio Dominguez, has come to town to ferret out the secret Jews who remain in Spain one hundred years after the Edict of Expulsion forced most to leave or convert.

Guiomar's mother Benita is dying when she reveals the family's secret to her daughter, giving her a pair of Sabbath candlesticks that have been in the family for generations. The news is unwelcome, not just because of the inherent danger, but because it means Guiomar will not be allowed to marry José Marcos Herrera, a man as feckless as he is handsome. Instead, her parents have arranged for her to marry into an Old Catholic family they hope will protect her from the Inquisition--but Guiomar does not love Francisco Armijo, a candlemaker who is beneath her status.

When Francisco leaves on a mission to Mejico after the birth of their second child, Guiomar finds herself friendless and unprotected from the growing suspicions of Padre Dominguez. She leans on her servant Esperanza and her godfather Don Enrique Gomez as the Inquisitor tightens his hold.

At the heart of the novel is a story of budding faith in the shadow of a terrible persecution. It is also a story of love and friendship--Guiomar's growing love for Francisco and her friendship for Esperanza, a woman whose own tragedies and strength in overcoming them guide Guiomar.

Review Quotes

"For a generation, Linda Chavez has provided a clear, courageous voice in our national discourse. Now, as it turns out, she's also a novelist of grace and skill. Inspired by 500 years of her family's remarkable history, she tells a story of hidden identity but unfaltering faith. The Silver Candlesticks is compelling, readable, and particularly pertinent at this moment of surging, worldwide antisemitism."--Michael Medved, syndicated radio host, author of The American Miracle

"One of the most satisfying aspects of Finding Your Roots is unveiling hidden mysteries on a guest's family tree, and political commentator Linda Chavez's ancestral revelations were among the most astonishing that we have ever uncovered. Chavez has transformed the fascinating raw material of her long-hidden family saga into a brilliant novel about the Spanish Inquisition. Linda's family migrated to the American Southwest from Spain more than 400 years ago seeking adventure but also escaping persecution for their religious beliefs: secretly, they were Jews! Chavez has masterfully woven a story of love, intrigue, and the meaning of faith into a page-turning novel that takes the reader into the home of one of Seville's prosperous merchant families in the late sixteenth century. The novel's heroine, Guiomar Péres, must fight her own inner demons while staving off the city's new Grand Inquisitor, obsessed with entrapping her into the cells of his medieval torture chambers. The Silver Candlesticks' characters are complex, the plot exciting, and the prose evocative of an exotic place and time. Extremely well-researched, Chavez has marvelously transformed the historical facts of her own ancestry into fully-imagined, luminous fiction. It is a stunning accomplishment."--Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard University

"This immersive, haunting, richly detailed historical novel of the Spanish Inquisition tells the story of Guiomar, a young woman whose future is forever changed when she learns her family's dangerous secret: they are Conversos, or secret Jews, their heritage embodied in a pair of silver candlesticks. Set in 16th Century Spain, and told in Linda Chavez's steady, assured prose, The Silver Candlesticks is a haunting--and unforgettable--story of the secret Jews of Spain, as well as a gripping tale of love and friendship, and of how faith endures in the face of persecution."--Susan Coll, Author of Bookish People and Real Life and Other Fictions

About the Author

Linda Chavez has spent her decades-long career in politics and the media. She is former Reagan White House official, syndicated columnist and author of three non-fiction books. Chavez began work on The Silver Candlesticks after being featured on the PBS series Finding Your Roots where she discovered her family were Converso Jews who left Spain for the New World in 1597. Using details uncovered by Roots researchers as well as her own study of the Spanish Inquisition, Chavez has created a story of love and faith set in a perilous period of anti-Semitism. Chavez earned her MFA in Creative Writing from George Mason University in 2012 and lives with her husband, two dogs, and an African Grey Parrot in Silver Spring MD.