The Mapmaker's Daughter

I really enjoyed reading Corona's book, The Mapmaker's Daughter. It is based on the expulsion of the Jews from Portugal and Spain during the Inquisition. Coincidentally, there have been newspaper articles about Spain's current apology for this atrocity so many centuries ago, and they are now offering Jews Spanish citizenship if they so desire. This is the story of Amalia, living as a child as a "converso" - pretending to be Christian, but living in a family that practices Judaism secretly. It is so well written and poignant in describing the plight of these people. Amalia finds joy and tragedy, and stays true to her religion throughout the book.You will, as the reader, have great regard for her people, in fact for any people who stay faithful to their families and ties to religion. This is a great story.

3.5, but I'll star it up versus down (being an author who likes getting more stars than less!).I enjoyed the beginning and the end of this story. However, the middle didn't seem to entirely fit within the story focus: Amalia and her Jewish faith. The middle was also not involved with a key plot element: Amalia's family atlas. The atlas is what provides the climax to the story. The atlas is what brings her father and her to royal attention. Instead, during the middle portion of the book, I wondered why the book was even called "the mapmaker's daughter." It would have been SO interesting if Amalia also contributed to the family atlas. That would have tied all elements of the story together. Instead, Amalia writes poetry, which I felt distracted from the main plot elements. Its fine to give her a hobby, but help tighten the story and make it a hobby with heavier bearing on the plot.In fact, Amalia has very little influence on the plot. She is quite often an observer, which slowed the pace of the book. The reader gets a lot of info dumping versus active participation. The author was very careful about not revealing more than would be plausible for someone in Amalia's position. However, this was also a detriment to the tale because the main character was not influential. She basically sat back and braced herself for the ride.There are many historical fiction stories out there bringing to their forefronts women engaging in struggles during difficult circumstances. Having Amalia imprint herself on the atlas would have given her a deeper connection to her family as well as a closer influence to the unfolding of the story's events. The atlas could have been doubly important to her as her only brother died at the age of one. There is a lot of talk about carrying on the family line and patriarchy. This should have weighed on Amalia being the only sibling, of all girls, to have a fascination and love for the atlas. At times, it could have been a burden. And I can see how her love for the atlas and what it held in its pages would have influenced her decision to travel to Granada, not just for her love for Jamil but also for a fascination of exploring and detailing the world via her family talents. Think how her narrative would have changed during her travels if she had seen the road through the perspective of a book illuminator.This is not to say that Amalia is a pushover or is uninteresting. The most compelling aspect of the narrative was the faith and strength of the Jewish community. They overcame and endured. It saddened me to see so many similarities to this time period and to the Holocaust (forcing them into pockets of communities, making them wear badges on their clothing). But the strength of Amalia and her family gave such beauty to the storytelling. I liked the author's use of comparing Biblical events to the current events through character discussions. However, some of the verse choices were a little obscure and didn't directly connect me to the character who was quoting it for their emotional needs. But I do not discount the fact that this could be because of my Christian roots influencing what I grew up hearing versus what Jewish children grow up hearing.I want to end by saying this was a well-researched book. I enjoyed the time period, the historical details, and walking through communities in the book. The author uses a beautiful language in her story telling. She expresses rich, lovely descriptions and visualizations. But due to the fact that her main character didn't have much, if any, control to the events in her life, it dragged the pacing. While this is probably very true to the time period, I was expecting a little more embellishment and depth to the title character. There is wisdom shared between characters, and the author could have done more with this, especially with Amalia engaging in the conversations and with less on bodice ripping ventures that saturated the middle section. I find a good summary is as the back cover states, "this is a story about identity, exile, and what it means to be home." All true. But I feel it needed a more clearly defined focus that influenced and changed Amalia.

I enjoyed this book from front to back and almost started it over again! The writing is excellent. She makes you feel like you are there experiencing the life of the main character in person. At one point, I was reading the book in public and started to cry during a very emotional scene, not something I do often. The book is a fascinating and (from what I know) an accurate glimpse into a dangerous and turbulent time in history. As a Jew, it's especially poignant knowing that if not for a few hundred years, that could have been my life I was reading about. Highly recommended read for anyone that enjoys a good human story with an historical backdrop.

The book was interesting and well-written, but the sex scenes were gratuitous, unnecessary and detracted from the historical commentary of this horrifying time in history. .

Extremely well written novel about a very bleak period of history. I always enjoy historical fiction, where an obviously well- researched story teaches me (a former social studies teacher!) about a time and place of which I had very little knowledge. The similarities to this period of time and the Holocaust are startling. Throw in a very strong woman making impossible choices, a different perspective on Ferdinand and Isabella and a little sexual material, and you are in for a great read.

I love this book. So full of historical details and passion for life. It's one of the few books I wanted to start again from page 1 as soon as I finished it. I also enjoyed Ms. Corona's book Finding Emillie, another well-researched historical fiction. I had the great fortune of attending a couple of Laurel Corona's classes at SDSU, and I was greatly impressed at her enthusiasm for bringing factual stories of historical women to light. Although the main character in The Mapmaker's Daughter is fictional, she imbues her with as much soul and spirit as any one of the real ones, and brings her to life in a great story of a period of time we generally know little of. Kudos to Laurel Corona for another great book. I can't wait for the next one.

Written beautifully and factually, this is an amazing and heart wrenching journey of a wonderful family and its will to survive. The story tells of the persecution of the Jews during the 1400's in Portugal and Spain. Interwoven throughout is the personal story of Amalia, a passionate woman and a dedicated Jew. I did not want the story to end. Fantastic!

Coming of age and aging , with some pleasant detail of comforting ritual, this novel is haunted by a repetitive history of eventual banishment and murder in the name of religion. Perhaps the most central lesson she conveys is to not allow others to own one's story, and yet while it is a call to advocacy and action for right and good , and for compassion, it is no guarantee of safety or success in a world where corrupt power tends to reign.