Incantation

Incantation

By: Alice Hoffmann

Pages: 166

ISBN:0316154288

Genre: Historical Fiction

Setting: Spain 1500

In Incantation Estrella DeMadrigal discovers the brutal reality of being a Jew. Her family has been keeping a secret from her since she was born and now at 16 she figures out the truth for herself. Estrella begins to notice her family is different after her neighbors are taken from their home and she sees her best friend, Catalina, stealing all that is left in the home. She starts to make the connections. Her family doesn’t eat pork. Her family doesn’t cross themselves like the others. Her family lights the candles in a certain order on certain nights. She makes the final connection when she visits her father’s grave in the middle of the night. After confronting her grandfather about it a whole new burden is placed upon her shoulders. It is now up to her to save her beliefs. With the help of her secret boyfriend, Andres, will Estrella be able to make it out alive?

I enjoyed reading this novel. So many times we don’t think about how there were “Nazis” everywhere. It happened in Spain and the execution of Jews was just as brutal as in Germany. It opened my eyes to heart ache that was put upon a young girl, not only did she have to watch her entire family get killed but she had to be brave enough to try and escape. I would recommend this to a young adult reading that is studying the Holocaust, so that his or her eyes could be opened to the world of discrimination that happened everywhere not just in Germany.