Secrets in the House of Delgado [Hardcover]

Gloria D. Miklowitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2001 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

In Spain in 1492, fourteen-year-old Maria, a Catholic orphan, becomes a servant to a wealthy family of Conversos, converted Jews, at a time when the Jews are being expelled from the country and when the Inquisition is diligently searching for religious heretics.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 6-8-The horror of the Spanish Inquisition in 1492 is told through the voice of 14-year-old Maria Sanchez, a recently orphaned Catholic. Desperation forces her to seek the help of a priest, who finds her a position as a companion and servant to 11-year-old Angelica Delgado, whose family had converted from Judaism to Catholicism generations earlier. She is determined to fulfill her mission to spy on the Delgados and find out whether they are practicing Jews, in part because of her fear of what happens to people who protect them. Maria is a likable character in spite of her prejudices shaped by the period's rampant anti-Semitism. The juxtaposition of her report to the priest and Dr. Delgado's arrest and questioning makes her feel responsible for the potential destruction of the family who took her in and treated her with kindness and respect. Eventually Maria sees and understands the Inquisition's injustice, and she ultimately takes risks to try to save the family. The introduction of Maria's sea captain uncle and his courageous involvement in the Delgados' rescue is a bit contrived but does not seriously detract from an otherwise engrossing tale. Waldtraut Lewin's Freedom beyond the Sea (Delacorte, 2001) and Jacqueline Dembar Greene's Out of Many Waters (1988) and One Foot Ashore (1994, both Walker) take the point of view of young Jewish girls escaping from the Inquisition. Miklowitz's novel offers another view of that era's atrocities and their far-reaching ramifications.

Renee Steinberg, Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-9. Fourteen-year-old Maria is alone and has nowhere to turn but the Catholic church. Fra Adolfo places her as a servant--and a spy--in the home of the Delgados. They are Conversos, Jews who have converted to Catholicism, and the monk is suspicions they might be Judaizers, sympathetic to Judaism or followers of the old ways. There are many stock characters: Dr. Delgado is good and wise; his daughter, to whom Maria is a companion, is alternately willful and sweet; and son Juan Pablo is as good as his father and handsome to boot. Maria, treated like a member of the family, grows to love the Delgados, but she turns resentful when she realizes Juan Pablo will never return her affection. Called in by Fra Adolfo, she makes accusations against the family, and then, remorseful, tries to undo the harm she has done. Miklowitz does a fine job of making the Spanish Inquisition seem frighteningly real, and the story shows depth and dimension, although some of the characters do not. Use this in conjunction with history classes but recommend it as a page-turner, too. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 182 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; 2nd edition (May 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802852068
• ISBN-13: 978-0802852069
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,319,952 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One girl's difficult choice during the Spanish Inquisition., August 18, 2001

By 

Rebecca Herman (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secrets in the House of Delgado (Hardcover)

The year is 1492, the place is Spain, and fourteen-year-old Maria is on her own. Her parents and little brother are dead. She hasn't seen her only living relative, her uncle, who is a sea captain, in years. Desperate, she goes to the church her family attended to ask for help. The church helps her to get a position as a maid to a wealthy family, the Delgados. The Delgados are Conversos. They are Catholic now, but in the past, the family was Jewish. The church has placed her in the Delgado home as nothing more than a spy to find out if the family is secretly practicing their old religion. At first Maria is repulsed by the idea of working for a family that was once Jewish, but she comes to see that the Jews are not the evil villains the church has portrayed them as. When suspicion of heresy falls on the Delgados, she is forced to make a difficult choice. I highly reccomend this well-written and fascinating historical novel.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Secrets in the House of Delgado, July 15, 2002

By 

marysu doyle (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secrets in the House of Delgado (Paperback)

This young adult novel plops the reader into Spain of 1492: not the Spain of Columbus and his travels to the Americas, sponsored by the King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, but the Spain of the Inquisition. One experiences the Spain that drove out the Moors and mandated conversion to Catholicism by all Jews who chose to remain. Maria, a fourteen-year-old orphaned,peasant girl, gains employment in the home of wealthy Conversos (Jews who converted to Catholicism) via the intervention of a priest. He mentions that she must look for signs of heresy; she readily agrees hoping for a roof over her head and, perhaps, even a welcoming home. Built into the plot are accurate historical descriptions of daily life and background explanations outlining the complicated history of the Jews in Spain. Maria has some personal and ethical decisions to make and the reader, too, becomes swept up in the conflict, ironically similar to issues of religious tolerance debated today. Though at times the characters need more development, and the plot is predictable, I found the novel made history feel real. It would be a great addition to a humanities class studying anything from the Crusades, the "discovery" of America, Spain and the Inquistion or the history of religious conflict.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good research rings true, September 14, 2005

By 

L. Claster - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secrets in the House of Delgado (Paperback)

My 14-year-old daughter and I read this book aloud. We recommend it without reservation for those interested in living the final days of the Jewish expulsion from Spain under the Inquisition of the Catholic church.

The adolescent main character, Maria, was a Catholic sent by the church as a servant--and a spy--to a family of Conversos, those forced under duress to convert from Judaism to Catholicism. The plot took us to many sectors of the populace: the perpetrators, the victims, and those stuck in between. Maria exemplified the confusion of normal people caught in a horrific historical period. The author clearly exposed the injustices of the rampant antisemitism of the time as well as the deep seated beliefs of different Conversos. I found that element particularly interesting. What I hadn't realized is that some families had been Conversos for many generations before the final expulsion from Spain. The main characters had depth and underwent change as the story progressed--both necessary elements of good chldren's literature.

Maria was a typical teenager to whom any teenage girl could relate. She was faced with temptations and difficult choices. Actually, most every character faced impossible choices. The plot had so many suspenseful twists and turns that we could hardly put the book down. It helped us to place ourselves in that period. Not all stories lead us to be so entirely 'simpatico', another necessary element of good literature for any age.

Since I also highly esteemed the book "The Last Jew" by Noah Gordon, from the same period, I tried to read that aloud. I found very early on that it was too steeped in adult situations for my teenager's liking. She nixed it very early on--even when I did some creative read-editing on the spot. But it's an excellent Inquisition novel for adults interested in the period for the same reasons that made "Secrets of the House of Delgado" a good read for the family.