Richard Zimler

The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon Richard Zimler

This extraordinary novel transports listeners into the universe of Jewish Kabbalah during the Lisbon massacre of 1506. Just a few years earlier, Jews living in Portugal were forced to convert to Christianity. Many of these New Christians secretly persevered in their Jewish prayers and rituals, while the hidden, arcane practices of the kabbalists, a mystical sect of Jews, continued as well. One such secret Jew was Berekiah Zarco, an intelligent young manuscript illuminator. Inflamed by love and revenge, he searches, in the crucible of the raging pogrom, for the killer of his beloved uncle, a renowned kabbalist found murdered in a hidden synagogue.