Doña Gracia’s Gold Pendant

Description

This is a historical novel of love, jealousy, intrigue, mortal terror, family secrets, courage, and devotion. It depicts the amazing life of Doña Gracia Nasi, a wealthy young Jewish widow from a family of forced converts, exiled from 16th Century Portugal. Her turbulent story comes to life from age 12, when she is told the secret of her forcibly converted family, to her escape from the terrors of the Inquisition to Constantinople via London, Antwerp, and Venice. Nasi powerfully bends kings to her will in an era of flourishing culture and religious battles between Christians, Jews, and Moslems. A successful businesswoman at a time when women had no rights, she risks her life and immense fortune to save her persecuted people, exacting a royal decree from the Ottoman sultan to settle the city of Tiberias. Meanwhile, her vicious feud with her sister, Brianda, nearly sparked a world war!