By Light of Hidden Candles

In a mud hut in the Jewish Quarter of 16th-century Fez, a dying woman hands her granddaughter a heavy gold ring--and an even heavier secret.

Five hundred years later, Alma Ben-Ami journeys to Madrid to fulfill her ancestor's final wish. She has recruited an unlikely research partner: Manuel Aguilar, a young Catholic Spaniard whose beloved priest always warned him about getting too friendly with Jews. As their quest takes them from Greenwich Village to the windswept mountain fortresses of southern Spain, their friendship deepens and threatens to cross boundaries sacred to them both; and what they finally discover in the Spanish archives will force them to confront the truth about who they are and what their faiths mean to them.

At times humorous, at times deeply moving, this beautifully written and meticulously researched book will appeal to anyone interested in the history of Inquisition-era Spain, Sephardic Jews, or falling in love.

"Engaging characters, a 500-year-old family mystery, and romance -- what more could a reader want? I had a hard time putting it down!"
    - Maggie Anton, award-winning author of the Rashi's Daughters trilogy

"A well-researched and engaging debut -- By Light of Hidden Candles is an enchanting read!"
    - Barbara Stark-Nemon, author of multiple-award-winner Even in Darkness