It's been quite some time since I read this book, so I wanted to send along an appreciation way after the fact. It was a great read, I was lucky to get to spend time with the characters. Thank you!

I was looking forward to reading a book about a time and place in history I knew so little about, but unfortunately, I found this very slow and hard to get into. The back and forth timelines were interesting and I enjoyed the cultural references, but overall, I found this book disappointing.

Gateway to the Moon by Mary Morris

Brief Summary: Dating back to the time of Columbus in 1492 Jewish people faced dire consequences for practicing their faith in the age of the Spanish Inquisition. In present day Entrada, New Mexico, Miguel is looking to better his lot and takes a babysitting job for Rachel Rothstein’s two boys. The past and present collide as we learn about the community of Entrada, home to a groups of Jews that still practice some Catholic traditions without knowing why.

Highlights: I am a born and raised catholic but did not know about the Spanish Inquisition until now. What a fascinating and horrible time. Morris’s novel contains graphic violence at times but the stories of those Jewish people were far more interesting than the present-day storyline. I know that I wont soon forget Inez, Sophia, and Alberto’s stories anytime soon.

Explanation of Rating: 4/5; again the Spanish Inquisition was both a fascinating and heart-wrenching time to read about. I can’t believe I was so unfamiliar with it.

Thank you to Net Galley and Doubleday Books for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review

A family's story, cultural snippets, historical facts make this novel an interesting read. It was somewhat difficult to keep up with the characters and the plot timelines overlapped, but all in all it was an enjoyable read.

Follow the journey of the Crypto- Jews as they traveled from Spain to the New World. Starting back in the days of Christopher Columbus commissioning three small ships to sail a different route to the Orient to trade spices and working through the generations who suffered at the hands of the Inquisition.



Author, Mary Morris uses the work of Stanley Hordes, whose career has been based in the study of the history of the Crypto-Jews of New Mexico to weave a tale of romance, secrets and family relationships. Young Miguel Torres is living today in Entrada de la Lunda, a fictional town outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a fifteen year old restless boy being brought up as a Catholic. Everyone in the small town seems related in some way and no one ever seems to escape the area. Except his aunt Elena, who went away to New York to be a dancer. She keeps in touch sending postcards from places she travels to but very rarely returns to visit. Miguel's escape is astronomy. He has built his own telescope and he loves to go out and study the constellations.



The book takes us traveling back to the Inquisition and the first family to settle in Entrada, a translator for Columbus, Luis de Torres. Torres is a historical figure who traveled with Columbus on his voyage to discover the New World. Throughout the book there is a mix of real Crypto-Jews and fictional characters created to build the storyline. The variety of characters travel from Spain to places like Portugal, the Philippines, the Canary Islands, and then to Mexico and New Mexico.



There are many family secrets. Each of the families carry on practices that have been passed down through the generations. Lighting candles on Friday nights, eating special foods and not eating other foods. The practices continue though there does not seem to be an explanation for them.


Miguel lives with his mother MG and visits with his father, Roberto, who spray paints cars for a meager living. Everyone seems stuck in this town. Vincent Roybal, who owns the village grocery, has been researching his family tree at the Palace of the Governors history archives for many years. He believes that if he figures out why they settled there, he would understand why very few people ever leave. "Vincent Roybal knows his ancestors came from Spain. He likes to believe that once they were rich aristocrats and that for a reason he cannot conceive they settled in this valley long ago. he knows that they are among the first settlers of the New World. He just doesn't know why they came here. And least of all why they chose a place like Entrada to dwell in when it is so remote from anything that any of them must have known before."



Morris gives us the reasoning behind the modern day story by taking the journey through the generations that brought the settlers to the area. We follow the family tree and see how each the Inquisition followed the Jews until they could live safely in Entrada.

An interesting novel with some historical accuracy and some creative and intriguing character development.

This book raises my awareness of the long history of widespread knowledge of the spread of religion. The story breaks down from Spain to Northern Mexico. Obviously this story came alive because Morris had done a long and deep research. But the most important thing about this story is the story of history written intelligently and sweetly. I traced all the stories of characters when they discovered places and families. The final part is the most beautiful story of this book and makes the reader turbulent to challenge the new future.

Gateway to the Moon is an engaging story of how identities are shaped by factors we don’t even remember or realize.

Miguel’s story is the backbone of Gateway and Morris writes his pain and concerns in a realistic way.

This book goes back and forth between the past, starting in 1492 with the Spanish expulsion of the Jews, the Inquistion, and Columbus's expedition; and the relative present with a story set in 1992 in a small town in New Mexico. I didn't really know anything about the conversos, Spanish Jews who converted while secretly keeping up their Jewish observances, nor about crypto-Jews (their descendants who follow certain Jewish customs while having no idea about their Jewish roots), so that was pretty interesting, and the writing was not bad. I just found this book SOOOO slow. And though I generally love dual-time period historical fiction, for me, in this book, the two parts just didn't work together successfully.

Have you ever come across a book that you really like except for……? If it wasn’t for that “except for” it would be a book that you really enjoyed but because of the “except for” it becomes a book that was just ok?

Gateway to the Moon by Mary Morris was such a book for me. This is a book that follows a boy, Miguel, living in Entrada, New Mexico, as he searches for his place in the world. The story also follows the ancestors of Entrada’s residents starting in fifteenth-century Spain. 

I loved the setting of New Mexico. I have family living in that area and I could so easily picture the area and I understood the town of Entrada. I loved the flashbacks dating to early Spain and I learned so much about the history of Spain and Mexico City during that time. It was all very fascinating to me. I liked the characters, especially Miguel and the people in his life. They seemed so real and true for that area of the country. Miguel isn’t the only character searching for his place, most of the characters are and I loved reading their experiences as they searched. 

I loved it all except for the many passages about characters’ sexual thoughts and experiences. There are many narrators in this story and every time a new narrator spoke we heard their sexual thoughts. Every time. The passages did nothing to enhance my understanding of the characters and did not really have anything to do with the plot. There was no reason for it and because it happened so often I would begin just rolling my eyes when a new character would narrator and it would come up. It just had no purpose and unfortunately it happened so often as to ruin the book for me.

This novel follows the family line of a crypto-Jewish family from their arrival with Columbus in the New World to small town New Mexico in the modern day. At first the New World seemed like a good place to escape the Inquisition. It didn't stay that way for long. Miguel Torres lives with his single mom. Although he's too young for a license, he drives a car his father gave him to get to a babysitting job in a nearby town. The family he works for is Jewish, but their customs remind him of some of his Catholic family's customs.

The novel has a strong sense of place, whether it's 16th century Europe or 20th century New Mexico. While both story lines are strong, Miguel was the most interesting character to me, and I was always eager to get back to his story. I wasn't tempted to rush through this book. I wanted to linger with its characters and setting as long as I could.

This review is based on an electronic advance reading copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

An interesting and deeply meaningful collection of stories woven together across time. Beautiful and painful at times, but the struggles the Torres families face throughout different centuries are riveting

Gateway to the Moon began in a hopeless little town in the desert and ranged through history through the inquisition and its long fingers into colonial Latin America. I was surprised at how enjoyable this journey was.

Gateway to the Moon was one of the most interesting books I have read. I was immediately drawn into the story and liked the way it went from the time of Co,umbus to the present. The characters were well developed. I truly did not want to put this book down. I have already recommended it to my book. clubs.

In the early 1990s, Entrada de la Luna is an old Latino community in Northern New Mexico. Beset by poverty, broken homes and poor prospects, the people still hold onto their traditions. These are traditions that unite them and they consider to be an integral part of their heritage. They light candles on Friday evenings, they won’t eat pork, and the men are circumcised. Yet they are fervent church-going people.

Meanwhile, back in the Old World of Inquisition Spain and Portugal, there are groups of Conversos (converted Jews) and practicing Jews who wish to flee their land. Though generations, Mary Morris tracks these people from the past to a future in the New World.

Yet the over-arching story is one about a Miguel, a smart kid from Entrada. He is aware of his traditions, but does not know if they really have much meaning or why they are maintained. When Miguel takes a baby-sitting job at an upscale Jewish household, he realizes some of Rachel’s religious practices are analogous to ones his family observes.

At this point, the reader wonders how Morris will unite the themes running through her book. She does succeed with alternating timelines, dramatic devices, and the compelling stories of Miguel and Rachel. Along the way, the reader will learn about the Inquisition and the hardship in the New World for those who thought they had escaped. Morris also portrays what crypto-Jews in New Mexico may have pondered about their traditions. At times I found the thread of scientific inquiry, embedded in the characters, a bit too mythologized and neat for a plot line. Yet at other times, it was a unifying and fascinating exploration. Conclusion….the dichotomy is what makes a book worth reading. Recommended, especially for the portrayals of the contemporary people of Entrada.

4.5 rounded up

The novel opens in 1992 New Mexico where we meet Miguel Torres, a fourteen year old boy with a passion for the stars and a desire to leave this dead end place where he lives. We are then taken back in time to 1492 and we meet Luis de Torres. This “is not his real name. It is Yosef Ben Ha Levi Halvri — Joseph, Son of Levi, the Hebrew. But he became Luis de Torres earlier that year when the Alhambra Decree called for expulsion or conversion of all the Muslims and Jews. “ As a Jew you convert or be executed or escape if you could. Luis decides to escape, setting sail with Columbus for the new world . Thus we are presented with the link between these two characters, across continents and centuries, as well as an explanation of some rituals of the Catholic people of Entrada de la Luna such as the lighting of the candles on Friday evening. Rituals that they can’t explain, other than it is their custom.

These alternate with other narratives in between - Rachel Rothstein, a sad troubled woman with a failing marriage who hires Miguel to babysit her two sons, Elena, Miguel’s aunt who has left the town and with whom Miguel feels a connection through the post cards she sends from her journeys. We follow several other characters from the past as well. These stories were skillfully brought together by lovely prose and a captivating telling. I have read only one other book by Morris, The Jazz Palace and she easily carried me to these times and places as she did in that novel . In reading the acknowledgments, it’s clear that the book is well researched and even a brief internet search will illustrate this. While this in so many way is about the Spanish Inquisition, it is about connecting characters across centuries, about beliefs, religious persecution, finding ones identity, the pains of hiding one’s identity in order to survive, about one’s heritage, about how much of the past is present through who one’s ancestors are. This is a well written story with wonderful characters from both the past and present and I highly recommended it.

(As an aside : Up until a week ago, I thought I knew all there was to know about my roots because I knew that all of my grandparents were born in Italy . I recently did an AncestryDNA test out of curiosity since my husband has been working on his genealogy and has found some interesting things about where his ancestors were from. I mention this here, because I found out I was a lot more than Italian and that made this a meaningful story for me in some ways . I am 43% Italian, 15% Mideast, 14% Caucasus, 11% Iberian Peninsula, 11% European Jewish and a smattering of other countries with lower %’s. I find this so fascinating and moving and I felt connected to this story .)

I received an advanced copy of this book from Nan Talese /Doubleday through Netgalley.

An enthusiastic 4 stars.

Mary Morris has put together such an interesting novel. Mostly it takes place in New Mexico, focusing on Miguel and his family. But it also goes back in time to 15th to 17th century Spain, Portugal and Mexico. Miguel and his family are the descendants of Jews who fled and survived the Inquisition. In their very small community, they still practice many of the rituals of Judaism — for example, they light candles on Friday and they don’t eat pork — but they don’t know about their Jewish ancestry. That’s the fascinating historical context, and in her acknowledgements Morris explains that it is based on a fair amount of research.

But Morris has also created interesting and original characters. There is a lot of love in Miguel’s family, but there’s a lot of hurt too, which leaves Miguel somewhat unmoored. Besides his family, he becomes attached to a family that has newly moved to New Mexico from New York, for who he babysits. Rachel — the mother — is also a bit lost but a good soul.

Morris tells the story through disparate strands, shifting points of view between a few characters, and at times going back to characters several hundred years back. You won’t like this if you like straightforward stories. But I loved the characters, the history and the meandering narrative that came together quite nicely at the end.

On a personal note, I recently traveled to Spain on vacation. The trip included an area where part of the story takes place. I had never thought much about the Inquisition or Spanish history until a few weeks ago. Stumbling onto Gateway to the Moon felt like perfect synchronicity.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

Mary Morris’ latest novel, Gateway to the Moon, combines a coming of age story with historical fiction to explore ideas of identity and how history echoes across time. The remote New Mexico community of Entrada de la Luna is rooted in the history of the Spanish inquisition and converesos, or crypto-Jews, who fled from persecution. But the residents have lost touch with their past and don’t remember why they maintain certain rituals, such as shunning pork and lighting candles on Friday.

Gateway to the Moon (Doubleday Books, digital galley) primarily follows Miguel, a poor high school student who discovers some unexpected similarities between his own life and that of the transplanted Jewish family for whom he babysits. The novel alternates between Miguel and his forebearers, who made their way to Entrada along with Spanish explorers.

This unique novel works hard to wed the contemporary with the historical and for the most part succeeds. But the story of Miguel and his relationship with those around him is most captivating. The interludes into the past are brief, fill in the backstory and tie in nicely with a personal discovery Miguel makes at the end of the book.

5 extremely impressive stars

Ever wonder what makes you...you? Ever think about the DNA that you have within you and the things that you do that might have come to you from your ancestors? Why do you have brown, blue or green or even grey eyes? Did your parents give that to you and who gave that to them and to their parents and so on and so on. Are there customs your family does, like lighting candles on Friday night or having an aversion to certain foods so much so that they are never served in any of you family's homes or ever have been? Why is it that at times you momentarily have fleeting feelings that you have been somewhere, met someone, heard something that you knew you had never experienced before?

In the fifteenth century Jews and Muslims were pursued with an intense vigor by the barbaric Inquisition in Spain which eventually traveled to Portugal and even further. Jews and Muslims escaped their country of origin and in this powerful novel we are introduced to Luis de Torres, a Spanish Jew, who accompanies Christopher Columbus as his interpreter on his journey to find a route to the Indies. His journey is the first one related and across many generations we read of the journeys of others both the hardship, the pain, landing many of the descendants in far flung places. Jews having been forced to accept Catholicism in order to survive. They traveled to the new world, Mexico, South America, and then to New Mexico. They are Catholics in name only but they are Jews in their heart and soul.

As the book continues, many centuries later, there are many people who live in the hills of New Mexico who carry on traditions that they really can't understand the why of. Why is it they light candles on Friday night? Why is it that they don't eat pork? We meet a young would be astronomer, Miguel Torres, searching for a sense of self, searching the sky's mysteries and vastness trying to understand what he is. He lives in Entrada de la Luna, a place where dreams die, a place where poverty and ruin often rear its ugly head, a place where the atmosphere is as dry as the desert sands.

Miguel finds himself a babysitting job for a woman, Rachel who has two sons. She herself is aimless drifting. Her family is Jewish and Miguel starts to see that many of Rachel's customs are those done where he lives. What does this all mean?They are Catholic right, or are they?

Throughout the story we learn of the awful nature of the Catholic faith to those who followed the teachings of the god of Abraham. We learn of how the people down through the centuries were pursued, murdered, tortured and yet so many resisted what was being fostered upon them. They held their faith in secret masked among their supposed belief in the faith of Christ. This is a journey through life, a life that has come down through centuries. It was indeed a powerful story to tell, a telling of what is often hidden makes us what we often are.

Thank you to Mary Morris for a book that engages both the heart and mind, to Doubleday Books and to Netgalley for making this book available to this reader.

Morris is an exemplary storyteller! Told in alternating time periods (1992 and the late 16th century) about the community of Entrada de la Luna (New Mexico) and the history of crypto-Jews. High schooler Miguel loves the stars, and science, but not much else about his life in Entrada. As the story unfolds we learn that his Jewish ancestors were forced to leave Spain during the Spanish Inquisition, and eventually settled in present day Entrada. Pick this book up if you enjoy stories about identity, community, faith, and family.

Another thanks to NetGalley for the eARC.

(This is my Goodreads review/summary)

Susan Fisher
‏ @librariantalkin
Apr 10

Gateway to the Moon by @MMorris14 is available today. Wonderful story, historical/contemporary. Highly recommended.
@Nan_A_Talese