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    Gateway to the Moon
    Gateway to the Moon
    Gateway to the Moon
    Audiobook13 hours

    Gateway to the Moon

    Written by Mary Morris

    Narrated by Luis Moreno

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    From award-winning novelist Mary Morris comes the remarkable story of a remote New Mexican town coming to grips with a dark history it never imagined. In 1492, the Jewish and Muslim populations of Spain were expelled, and Columbus set sail for America. Luis de Torres, a Spanish Jew, accompanies Columbus as his interpreter. His journey is only the beginning of a long migration, across many generations. Over the centuries, de Torres' descendants travel from Spain and Portugal to Mexico, finally settling in the hills of New Mexico. Five hundred years later, it is in these same hills that Miguel Torres, a young amateur astronomer, finds himself trying to understand the mystery that surrounds him and the town he grew up in. Entrada de la Luna is a place that holds a profound secret-one that its residents cannot even imagine. It is also a place that ambitious children, such as Miguel, try to leave. Poor health, broken marriages, and poverty are the norm. Luck is unusual. When Miguel sees a flyer for a babysitting job, he jumps at the opportunity, and begins work for a Jewish family new to the area. Rachel Rothstein is not the sort of parent Miguel expected. A frustrated artist, Rachel moved her family from New York in search of a fresh start, but so far New Mexico has not solved any of the problems she brought with her. Miguel loves the work, yet he is surprised to find many of the Rothstein family's customs similar to ones he's grown up with and never understood. Interwoven throughout the present-day narrative are the powerful stories of the ancestors of Entrada's residents, highlighting the torture, pursuit, and resistance of the Jewish people. A beautiful novel of shared history, Gateway to the Moon is a moving and memorable portrait of a family and its journey through the centuries.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateApr 10, 2018
    ISBN9781501994272
    Gateway to the Moon
    Author

    Mary Morris

    Mary Morris is a professor at Sarah Lawrence College. She is the author of novels, travel writing, and short stories, and has been the recipient of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters' coveted Rome prize, a CAPS award, a Guggenheim fellowship, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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    Reviews for Gateway to the Moon

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    • 5/5
      Family saga of conversos [Jews who forcibly converted to Catholicism in Medieval Spain], expelled from that country. The novel starts with a translator who sailed with Columbus on his first voyage reaching down through the centuries to a present-day teenager living in the small town, Entrada. New Mexico. The inhabitants still follow Jewish customs only they don't know why. Fascinating. Apparently there is such a place, according to the author in her Notes.
    • 4/5
      Morris is an exemplary storyteller! Told in alternating time periods (1992 and the late 16th century) about the community of Entrada de la Luna (New Mexico) and the history of crypto-Jews. High schooler Miguel loves the stars, and science, but not much else about his life in Entrada. As the story unfolds we learn that his Jewish ancestors were forced to leave Spain during the Spanish Inquisition, and eventually settled in present day Entrada. Pick this book up if you enjoy stories about identity, community, faith, and family.

      Another thanks to NetGalley for the eARC.
    • 5/5
      This novel follows the family line of a crypto-Jewish family from their arrival with Columbus in the New World to small town New Mexico in the modern day. At first the New World seemed like a good place to escape the Inquisition. It didn't stay that way for long. Miguel Torres lives with his single mom. Although he's too young for a license, he drives a car his father gave him to get to a babysitting job in a nearby town. The family he works for is Jewish, but their customs remind him of some of his Catholic family's customs.The novel has a strong sense of place, whether it's 16th century Europe or 20th century New Mexico. While both story lines are strong, Miguel was the most interesting character to me, and I was always eager to get back to his story. I wasn't tempted to rush through this book. I wanted to linger with its characters and setting as long as I could.This review is based on an electronic advance reading copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.
    • 3/5
      Took way too long to have something happen. I stopped at page 125.
    • 5/5
      In 1478 the Spanish Inquisition was established. The year that Columbus went on his first voyage of discovery, 1492, was also the year that all Jews and Muslims were expelled from Spain. Unless they converted to Christianity--or preferred to be burned at the stake.The Christian Jews outwardly lived like Christians, attending mass, but secretly clung to their way of life, lighting candles on Friday, avoiding port, and circumcising their sons.So, the Conversos were targeted, massacred, imprisoned, tortured, and burned. The Jews fled to the New World, but the Inquisition followed to Mexico and the Jews moved into New MexicoGateway to the Moon by Mary Morris imagines the story of one Jewish/Converso family whose ancestor, Luis de Torres, came to the New World with Columbus, following the Torres family through the 15th and 16th centuries and into the 20th century. Living in Entada de la Luna, the Torres are good Catholics who traditionally light candles on Friday night, disdain to eat pork, and circumcise their sons. The cemetery holds generations of their ancestors. The townsfolk know that their ancestors came from Spain but no longer remember what brought them there.The story is told in two timelines, telling the contemporary story of Miguel Torres, a teenager with a passion for astronomy, and that of his ancestors beginning with Luis de Torres, a secret Jew born Leni Halvri before the Alhambra Decree. The horrific history of the Inquisition is revealed through the lives of the Torres family, providing drama and intrigue to the slower, more introspective story of Miguel. Miguel's world has also has its violence and sorrow; his father became an alcoholic while in the armed service, his parents divorced, and his aunt was gang-raped by fellow high school students before she fled to New York City to pursue a dance career.Morris's beautiful writing is a pleasure to read. Miguel is a wonderful, memorable character. And it was interesting to learn about this part of history. I very much enjoyed this novel, a combination of historical fiction, contemporary fiction, and family history.I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.