MAXIMO 1517

This story follows a young Spanish Jew, Maximo ha-Levi Constanego, in the land of Mesoamerica. He left his homeland of Spain as the Islamic caliphate gasped its last collective breath of occupation. The Reconquista, the reconquering of Spain, was well underway.Even as newfound freedom blossomed for some, it was not so for the Jews. Maximo was spirited out of the country by his anxious mother, on a ship captained by his Catholic uncle, Rodrigo Constanego. Rumors swirling through the Caribbean fleet of the arrest of Jews on Spanish vessels prompts the planning of an escape from his uncle's ship, the Asunto del Rey. He deserts his post after a shipwreck on the Yucatan.His arrival in the New World, as a reluctant refugee, and now enemy of the crown, precedes other, more aggressive colonizers bent on an agenda of conquest.He meets the cruel Aztecs, abhors their habit of human sacrifice, and allies himself to rebellious Amerindians outside the full control of the empire. Maximo becomes dismayed realizing one day he might be required to fight his own countrymen.His beliefs are buffeted and challenged. Yes, at times he is precariously irreverent, but an enduring faith in the providence of God sustains him throughout.

-- John Allen