The end of the Gold­en Age of Spain is pre­sent­ed in free verse from the per­spec­tive of Ramon, a con­ver­so (Jew who con­vert­ed to Chris­tian­i­ty) and Amir, a Mude­jar (Mus­lim liv­ing under Chris­t­ian rule). Even though Ramon’s fam­i­ly has con­vert­ed, they live in con­stant fear and are con­sid­ered sec­ond class cit­i­zens. Their work as scribes makes them even more sus­pect. The per­se­cu­tion, fear, and brief moments of hap­pi­ness are relat­ed in short install­ments that reflect the ten­u­ous rela­tion­ships of the char­ac­ters. Ramon’s father’s atten­tion to Amir sparks jeal­ousy and sus­pi­cion, with both boys leav­ing the house. Ramon becomes a scribe for the Inqui­si­tion in order to earn mon­ey for his fam­i­ly; Amir runs away after a dan­ger­ous mis­un­der­stand­ing and ends up in the mid­dle of the bat­tle for Mala­ga. At the end of the sto­ry, the boys reunite, but their future is uncer­tain. The free verse some­times make it hard to fol­low the sto­ry line, but some lines are gems, as when Ramon asks Amir to write a poem to his girl­friend Bea, a daugh­ter of an offi­cial, and Amir writes ​“Your lips are as red as the blood on the hands of your father.” There are graph­ic details of the tor­tures and pun­ish­ments suf­fered by ​“heretics” dur­ing the Inqui­si­tion, and read­ers will have to have some knowl­edge of the peri­od to ful­ly appre­ci­ate the sto­ry. Read­ers twelve and up will enjoy this his­tor­i­cal fic­tion that hits on the time­ly theme of what is wrought in the name of reli­gion or nationalism.