Summer Reading Project, BookLikes Satellite

In 1745, Lisbon is still in the firm grip of the Inquisition. (The Portuguese Inquisition was not officially disbanded until 1821.) Families that have been converted for generations are still persecuted as "Judaizers." Of course, most people are arrested by the Inquisition for other reasons: denouncers getting revenge or seeking profit, victims of torture giving up names to escape further punishment, or people arrested to get leverage on other people. Lisbon is a pit of vipers. Arrest could happen any moment, but it still comes as a shock to Sebastião Raposa when his father is taken by the Inquisition. His mother calls in a last favor to get Sebastião on a packet boat to England. He never sees them again. David Liss's The Day of Atonement is Sebastião's tale of revenge against the people who destroyed his family...

Read the rest of my review at Summer Reading Project.