Book Review: My Name Is Isaiah

NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.
Book Review: My Name Is Isaiah, by Debbie Strom

I don't read too many novels any longer, especially Jewish content novels, so when I received the book My Name Is Isaiah for review I was a little bit skeptical and hesitant. Would it really be worth my time? I so much prefer history and memoirs along with books about social movements and Jewish community nowadays that a novel was just not appealing to me.

The answer to that, in hindsight, is that it was.

My Name Is Isaiah is full of Jewish cliche and pretty much everything you expect from the story-line of a Jewish novel - it deals with faith, marranos, Judaism, heroes - but it was a very enjoyable read.

My Name Is Isaiah is set in Portugal during the years of the Spanish Inquisition, with the story surrounding that of a converso family of of a nobleman working for the king. The children only get told later that they are of the Jewish faith and how dangerous that information is, and we see how the children each react differently to that information, with one son embracing it fully and the other troubled and haunted by the information. They later come together to work together to save their people in a fantastical story woven in the palace of the king involving priests, assistants, the king, dukes and duchesses, murders and Inquisitors.

My Name Is Isaiah is a fun read, and I did not want to put it down once I got started on it. The book challenges the reader to put faith and Jewish community first, even without necessarily understanding it. The De Sabato family does just that when push comes to shove, and so do many of the other marranos in the story.

My Name Is Isaiah is a fun read and a story with imagination and creativity. You will definitely enjoy it.

• buy My Name Is Isaiah on Amazon.com

NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.
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