The year is 1481 and the location is Seville, Spain. Marisol lives with her parents. Her father is what is called an Old Christian; his family having converted from Judaism decades ago and lived as Christians since. Her mother is known as a converso, a Jewish person who has recently converted and is suspected of not truly having adopted the Christian faith.

The family has been safe but times are changing. Queen Isabella married a converso herself, King Ferdinand and had the two had protected the Jews of Spain. But now the Inquisition has come to Seville and it appears that Queen Isabella needs gold more than she needs to protect the Jews in her lands. All Jewish families are given three days to vacate Seville. This is a harsh punishment but perhaps easier than those left behind to face the torturers of the Inquisition.

Marisol's mother walks into the river and drowns herself to protect her family. Her father a week later, marries Marisol off to Gabriel, a neighbor who works for the Inquisition and whose brother is a highly placed official there. He disowns Marisol, all a ruse to try to save her as he knows he is a likely target. Marisol has no love for Gabriel and is soon reunited with her childhood love, Antonio. Can the two of them escape from the horror that has overtaken Seville?

Jeanne Kalogridis has made a name for herself in the historical fiction genre. This book details the quick escalation of the Inquisition and how it was based as much on greed as any religious doctrine. The research the author did is extensive and sensitive readers may want to skim over the passages detailing the tortures prisoners were dealt. The reader will learn much about religious persecution and one of the worst periods in Spanish history. This book is recommended for readers of historical fiction.

I wanted to like this one - the period it takes place in is fascinating, but I just couldn't get involved in this book. I thought the characters flat and the writing mediocre - but I have read other books by this author and enjoyed them, so maybe it was just me.

The Inquisitor's Wife was a fascinating and complex novel. The main character Marisol is the daughter of Magdalena, a Jewish woman who became a Christian or converso and married Diego a "old Christian". Marisol is torn between two faiths in Spain a country who is very hostile to all Jews and Arabs. It takes place in the latter part of the middle part of the 1400's right at the beginning of the Inquisition or Holy Order to expel all non-Catholics from Spain and even the conversos are under great suspicion from all quarters from the royal palaces to their next door neighbors spying and reporting on them. In the middle of this she falls in love with Antonio a true Christian who unfortunately goes to study in Salamanca University for 4 years and she loses contact with him and in the meantime is married to Gabriel Hojeda a lawyer and member of the inquisition. In return for his protection her father has given him all his fortune for her protection. In the end it turns out to be of no usse as the Inquisition speeds up with the blessing of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, himself a converso. Believe it or not there is a happy ending to this basically sad story. Thank you Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for giving me the pleasure of reading this wonderful and emotive story.

The book was archived before I had a chance to read and review at the time. However, since then, I actually purchased this one myself on the strength of her previous novels, a number of which I have..

Not as strong as two previous ones I have read, however, it does give a sense of the times.

Sadly, this book was archived before I had a chance to read it.
Under these circumstances any star rating is not valid.