Incantation by Alice Hoffman is a work of historical fiction set during the Spanish Inquisition. Narrated by 16-year-old Estrella deMadrigal, this YA novel imagines how a family of good standing in small village gets swept up in the persecution of conversos, that is, Jews who had converted to Christianity but were later accused of secretly still practicing Judaism. Estrella will discover secrets about her family and have her eyes opened to the true nature of her neighbors and her best friend.
The novel opens with a book burning on the plaza of the small village known as Encaliflora. Estrella can smell it before she sees it, and Catalina, her best friend, is eager to see what is happening. The two girls have been lifelong friends, and even look a bit alike. On the plaza, they see that soldiers have taken the books of a Jewish man, so marked by a red circle on this clothing, and are burning them. While many Jewish families had converted to Christianity 100 years ago (c. 1400) in the face of persecution, including Estrella’s family, some refused to convert and have been forced to live in a segregated part of town. The same has been done to the local Muslim community. Estrella recognizes the Jewish man as a scholar, a man of learning like her grandfather, and cringes as the soldiers beat him. Estrella’s mother Abra finds her on the square and rushes her home, away from the violence.
Following the book burning, anti-Jewish edicts and violence increase. Estrella’s neighbors, a family with two small girls, are arrested and never seen again. Estrella is deeply disturbed by the soldiers’ actions against this family and their children, as they were also conversos and attend the same church as Estrella’s family. Moreover, Estrella later sees Catalina inside the neighbors’ house with her mother ransacking the place. Catalina’s relationship with Estrella is further strained by the attention that Andres, Catalina’s cousin and potential husband, pays to Estrella. Catalina begins to openly question some of the practices of Estrella’s family — the odd way they make the sign of the cross, not eating pork, their Friday evening prayers at sundown and so on. Soon Estrella learns the secret that her family has been keeping from her. Though they are conversos, they have not given up practicing Judaism, a crime which could lead to their arrest, torture and death. How will they continue to keep this secret? Should they run? What will happen to Estrella’s brother Luis, who is studying in a seminary?
Alice Hoffman sets up a potentially fascinating story about very real conflict that Jews and Muslims have endured throughout European history. Yet, I felt that this story fell flat. Much of the problem is that the characters are rather two dimensional. Hoffman tells us that Estrella and Catalina are like sisters, but never really shows us that. When the story begins, their friendship is already strained, so we don’t get a sense of the kind person Estrella thought Catalina was or of the betrayal that she feels later. Estrella’s grandparents and mother are almost like props in the story. We know very little about them or their history, why they chose to hide so much from Estrella or what they expect of her once she knows the truth of her family. Luis knows the family history and is sent to the seminary so that as a priest, he can protect Jews like his family who practice in secret. Apparently the Friar from their church is involved in this, too. It’s an interesting plot point, but how does that work? The reader also gets no sense of how politics and religion operate in this village. No priest or bishop ever seems to be involved in the arrests or interrogations, which I found odd, and it’s not clear who the political authority is that is acting on tips from neighbors. I mean, it’s a small village, everybody knows everybody. The pacing of the story is odd as well. It seems like everything happens very quickly: Estrella learns the truth, her relationships with her friend and family change, arrests and violence are at her doorstep, etc. The resolution to the novel is okay, but the whole story lacked the emotional wallop that one might expect from such a tragic story.
Given how short the novel is (166 pages), I wonder why the author didn’t spend a little more time to flesh out characters and plot points, to educate young readers as to why Jews and Muslims become targets throughout history, obstacles to moving, options if one does leave. These things are hinted at but not developed as they should be. Overall, this was just kind of a so-so novel.