In this first book of the Mirror Realm Cycle series, Ariel Kaplan invites readers into a complex, fully realized universe. Combining history and fantasy, the novel follows Jewish characters who are rejected and relentlessly pursued by the world of Christian Spain. A young Jewish woman named Toba enters the realm of the Maziks, magical creatures with powers menacing enough to rival those of the Inquisition. Toba’s place in their realm is further complicated by her unusual past. As each character struggles to evade punishment for being Jewish, they navigate twisting paths and encounter unexpected outcomes.
The book begins with a list of characters and locations. Fictionalized places are often related to actual ones, and the narrative blends true events with invented ones. For instance, ostentatiously eating bacon in public and concealing Jewish ritual objects within Catholic ones were common survival strategies, not fictional elements. The novel depicts the divisions in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Spain, where no matter what Jews did — whether they became exiles, converted to Christianity, or practiced Judaism in secret — they all experienced loss, secrecy, or betrayal.
One character in the book, Naftaly Cresques, is descended from tailors, but he’s unable to perform the most basic tasks of his trade. Yet when his people are confronted by dangers, he adapts and redeems his dignity. The dream visions that his father once dismissed as dangerous become tools more useful than his tailor’s implements. When Naftaly finds himself entangled in a search for Toba, he draws on strengths rooted in both his own character and his Jewish heritage. Literacy plays such a key role in this deeply researched novel that books have talismanic value. Refusing to risk the destruction of a volume that has been in his family for generations, Naftaly explains that the book is not just an object, but “a living creature with its own pulse.”
As Toba attempts to flee the land of the Maziks, she becomes trapped. She may be destroyed, or her extensive powers may be exploited by her captors. She is skilled in translation and scholarship — fields in which Spanish Jewish men, not women, historically played a major role. Toba can write in Latin with one hand and in Arabic with the other, and is given the puzzling task of translating Maimonides’s Guide for the Perplexed as part of a strange bargain for her survival.
Complete with dramatic tension, richly developed characters, and historical verisimilitude, The Pomegranate Gate is a meditation on good and evil. Although the perils of antisemitism are interwoven with imaginary villains, they are no less real in this compelling book.
Emily Schneider writes about literature, feminism, and culture for Tablet, The Forward, The Horn Book, and other publications, and writes about children’s books on her blog. She has a Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures.
