Gaon Books authors (Isabelle Medina Sandoval and Sandra K. Toro) will read and discuss their recent books on crypto-Jewish life in New Mexico at Collected Works in Santa Fe on June 18 at 6 pm.

Both of these books are sequels to previous titles written by these authors on Spanish Jews who had to flee the Inquisition and hide their Judaism at times to stay alive.

Isabelle Medina Sandoval is from a family in Mora in the mountains of northern New Mexico where crypto-Jewish families lived in isolation and distance from the long arm of the Inquisition. Medina Sandoval writes about her family and has done extensive historical research and bases her writing on that research. She is a widely published poet.

Hidden Shabbat is an beautiful piece of literature and important in preserving our New Mexico history and culture.  I recommend it for both youth and adults who want to understand New Mexico.

Dr. John B. Mondragón, Professor Emeritus Univ. of New Mexico

This book is a masterpiece of scholarship and literature.  Isabelle Medina Sandoval skillfully threads the untold cabalistic histories of several generations with the artistry of storytelling to reveal the secret Jewish-Hispanic tapestry that is rightfully part of New Mexico history.  Her passionate writing captures the past and present-day Crypto-Jewish struggle with anguish, pride, and secrecy.  In the end, Sandoval shares the vulnerability as well as courage of the present, and the optimism that the cabalistic light will shine brighter in the future.

Daniel Díaz-Huerta, Executive Director

New Mexico Center for Crypto Judaic Studies & Culture

Sandra K. Toro is an award-winning, best-selling author who teaches creative writing at the University of New Mexico, and previously she worked in Washington D.C. as a reporter and producer of public affairs programs for ABC and PBS. Toro is an active speaker on writing and the representation of writers.

Through her exquisite prose, Sandra K. Toro recreates the lives of New Mexico’s crypto-Jews. She pays homage to the centrality of family and faith in the lives of early modern crypto-Jews, projected onto a backdrop of Spanish interaction with Native American beliefs and peoples. Secrets behind Adobe Walls rekindles our memory of that dramatic era.

-- Prof. Roger L. Martinez, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

Sandra Toro brings to life the turbulent history and clash of cultures, religion and politics of colonial New Mexico.  Set against the story of New Mexico’s hidden Jews, those who outwardly practiced Catholicism and secretly practiced Judaism, Toro’s meticulously researched novel is a fast paced and fascinating look into the fears and fires that ignited prejudice in the 18th century.

-- Susan Seligman, New Mexico Regional Director, Anti-Defamation League

Sandra Toro has crafted a spell binding story that is part medical mystery, part high adventure and part love story that revolves around crypto-Jews  in colonial New  Mexico.  Once you start it, you won’t want to put it down.

-- Paula Paul, author of Sins of the Empress

See also Collected Works