Author: Jesús Sánchez Adalid
- Fiction
- Ediciones Martínez Roca
- ISBN: 9788427039636
- Release Date: 01-01-2012
-Reviewed by: Jackie Robles
In an Arab-occupied Spain, the taxes and sanctions imposed by the ruling Moslems is quickly taking its toll on the citizens of Mérida. A series of events and revolts starts disintegrating the tolerance between Christians, Jews and Moslems. Acceptance turns into distrust and revolts against the established Arab rule of Abderramán II, the Emir of Cordoba, break out. Abderramán is a charismatic man yet intolerable and vengeful against those who dare oppose him.
Judit of Jewish background and known in the city of Mérida as La Guapísima (the most beautiful) for her extraordinary beauty, is in her early twenties when her Moslem husband dies. Never having been fully accepted by his family, her sister-in-law uses her brother’s death to take away Judit’s only inheritance: her home. The girl is forced to return home where she is received warmly by her parents. In order to distract her from her woes, Judit’s father sends her to the nearby town where his sister makes a good living by managing the access to the natural spring baths. It is here that her healing begins and her decision to remarry. But she is rejected by both Muslins and Jews.
The natural springs fall under the shadow of Marwan’s castle, the richest and most influential man in Mérida and run by his eldest son, Muhamad, who will fall in love with Judit, but be seduced by her cousin, Adine.
Muhamad is sent by Marwan to Córdoba as part of an embassy to make the Emir aware of the happenings in Mérida. The greed of those in power and the high tributes the citizens are forced to pay, will unite the three races against the rule of Abderramán.
The book is well-researched and easy to read.
