In this fantasy historical novel, the characters inhabit a world that includes a Mirror Realm. On one side of the pomegranate grove or gate is the world of 1492 Sephardic Spain. When the Queen of the Sefaravad (loosely based upon Isabella of Castile) orders her Jewish subjects to convert or leave their homeland with nothing, the engine of this story starts as millions of people are on the roads moving…somewhere.
In this confusion one of the main characters Toba Peres becomes separated from her grandmother, and walks through the Pomegranate grove into the Mirror Realm. This world is a mirror image of the first, with East being West and North being South. It takes Toba a little while to figure this out as the Mirror Realm looks exactly like the old one except with these differences.
Another strange property that the Mirror Realm possesses is that is can be accessed via dreaming. Toba’s long-time friend Naftaly Cresques ~ a not-so-good tailor by trade ~ sees things that don’t exit in Sephardic Spain, but do occur in the Mirror Realm.
Naftaly, a sensitive character whose only wish is to be helpful, determines to find Toba. But his dreams center on another character who becomes Toba’s companion in the Mirror World.
In this Mirror World, Toba throws off her stifling constraints and becomes the powerful woman she was meant to be. She finds her absent father. She discovers who she really is via her family lineage. But naturally she is a threat to the social order in that world, and even with her new-found power she is never really secure.
Just as 1490s Spain was a terrifying place to be for its Sephardic inhabitants. so also is the mirror realm with its complement of magicians, sorcerers and devils. If this sort of thing fascinates you and you love (and know) Sephardic folk-tales, this is the book for you! Four Stars.
