In the time of leaving

In the time of leaving - "My mother gave it to me. A quill cut from the feather of a black stork, one of the great birds that return each year to its nest. With it she gave me a bottle of ink and a journal bound in red patterned silk and said, "Write down everything, so even the daughters you have not yet had will know what the leaving was like." Chava, Spain, 1492, The Reconquest, the journey of Columbus, the Inquisition. Esther and her daughters Chava and Sarah are part of a prominent family with close ties to the royal court. But then the Inquisition gains force, the Edict of Expulsion is made law and Spain's Jewish community is ordered to convert or face exile. There is only a short time to decide whether to reliquish their home and all they have known or stay and forsake everything they believe. -- back cover.