Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree (The Islam Quintet)

If you are looking for a good historical-fiction -- although fiction, the novel is very close to the actual happenings of the Spanish Inquisition -- that is a good read, I would really recommend reading Shadows Of A Pomegranate Tree.

Not historical fiction with a message but a story of the times with the truth: Moorish Spain at one point was the height of knowledge, culture, art, architecture and most important of all, religious tolerance and understanding. The Muslims ruled fairly in contrast to Isabel and Ferdinand, so loved for their gift of ships to Columbus, who when they finally defeated the Moors at Granada promised the Moorish people that they could retain their religion and lifestyle and culture. But the greedy and dark forces of the (at that time) troubled Catholic Church convinced the royalty to go back on their promises. The twisted and sadistic bishops started to destroy the culture of the Moors by burning their books (the same approach used with the Mayans in the New World) and reducing their promised freedoms. And so the story begins. The members of a Moorish family who has lived outside Granada for many generations faces the new day with all the possible options; fight, flight, death, assimilation. The story is very well written, the characters real, the sense of time and place well set. The story is not slanted towards Moors=good, Christians=bad, although a quick look at those times in Spain one could easily make that argument. Instead the author pursues not religious credos but the challenges of individuals balancing the conflicts between their beliefs, their hearts, their ethics, orders from their superiors; the easy, the hard and the difference between right and wrong and the void between. It is a great book, I liked it on several levels, it was the first Tariq Ali I read; I went right and got another.

A poignant account of an aristocratic muslim family in Moorish Spain, Tariq Ali spins a brilliant tale of empires lost and heroism re-discovered. One of my personal heroes from his days as a student leader in the 60's, Ali is as always brilliant in his penmanship. I was introduced to his writings by my father, a close personal friend of the author and Iv been hooked ever since. One of the very best accounts you could find of Moorish Spain and the end of an empire that gave the world such architectural masterpieces like the Al-Hambra.

A wealthy granadan family looks to its past as it faces the uncertainty of life under Christian rule with the recent conquest of spain. Intertwining stories of love and valour overlie the background of the family's unwillingness to change to the new regime, and their current powerlessness. The stories are poignant, the characters fully fleshed and the backdrop of Moorish Spain is richly depicted. A must read.

Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree is about a small town in Moorish Spain, and the timeline up to its defeat by the Inquisition. The focus is on a large wealthy family, the mysteries behind family members, and how they change. Some characters seemed a bit unrealistic, but for the most part, each character was consistent. It was an enjoyable to read a historic book and feel that it was accurate to have been non-fiction. Tariq Ali showed that he is very talented and passionate about what he does.