It is 1596 and in Mexico the Inquisition is at its most efficient. A young man trembles in his cell as he prays for salvation, torn between the Christianity he was schooled in and his ancestral faith. What heresies will the Holy Office uncover? Can he protect his mother and sisters? He is Luis de Carvajal. His forbears had fled the Inquisition in Spain to Portugal and then from there to the New World. But the lives they try to rebuild as conversos in Mexico are just as perilous, for the Inquisition is determined to root out heretics throughout its realms. Luis's quest for true faith unfolds a tense and moving narrative, as he and his family's spirit and ingenuity are tested again and again.

About the Author

Anna Lanyon is the author of Malinche's Conquest and The New World of Martin Cortes.

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Anna Lanyon studied Spanish, Portuguese and History at La Trobe University in Melbourne. She travelled widely before settling with her family on the southern coast of Victoria, near Portland. She teaches and translates Spanish, and is the author of Malinche's Conquest (A+U 2000). She works in Portland for La Trobe University's Centre for the Study of Mothers' and Children's Health, and continues to write whenever she can.