A Travs de Los Mares / Across So Many Seas

ESPAA, 1492: La familia de Benvenida huye de la Inquisicin. Todos estn en peligro si no renuncian a sus creencias religiosas.

TURQUA, 1923: Despus de la Guerra de Independencia, Reina confa en que tendr ms libertad. Pero su padre la castiga, exilindola a Cuba.

CUBA, 1961: Alegra, la hija de Reina, se ilusiona con el triunfo de la Revolucin. No sospecha que sus das en la isla estn contados.

MIAMI, 2003: A Paloma, la hija de Alegra, le fascinan esas historias familiares que, despus de siglos, lograron llevarla a un lugar seguro. Viaja a Espaa, junto a sus padres y a su abuela Reina para comprender mejor su pasado, pero no se imaginan lo que descubrirn en su viaje.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

Spanning over 500 years, Pura Belpr Award-winner, Ruth Behar's, epic novel tells the stories of four girls from different generations of a Jewish family, many of them forced to leave their country and start a new life.

In 1492, during the Spanish Inquisition, Benvenida and her family are banished from Spain for being Jewish, and must flee the country or be killed. They journey by foot and by sea, eventually settling in Istanbul. Over four centuries later, in 1923, shortly after the Turkish war of independence, Reina's father disowns her for a small act of disobedience. He ships her away to live with an aunt in Cuba, to be wed in an arranged marriage when she turns fifteen.

In 1961, Reina's daughter, Alegra, is proud to be a brigadista, teaching literacy in the countryside for Fidel Castro. But soon Castro's crackdowns force her to flee to Miami all alone, leaving her parents behind.

Finally, in 2003, Alegra's daughter, Paloma, is excited to travel from her home in Miami to visit Spain with her parents and Grandma Reina. In a museum there, she sees a note preserved from the Middle Ages that, unbeknownst to her, was written by her ancestor Benvenida just before she fled the country. Though many years and many seas separate these girls, they are united by their desire to learn and their longing for a home where they will be welcome.