Books & Stuff

This week, I selected an author I’d heard about but never read, Mary Ann Mitchell. She has won many awards for her chilling “horror” books, but “Street of Death” was a dramatization of a terrible time in history, the Spanish Inquisition.

Commissioned by the pope, High Priest Torquemada set out to find and punish any who didn’t strictly adhere to the Catholic faith.

It soon became an opportunity for people to dispose of their enemies by reporting them as heretics, Jews or witches. Those taken were usually subjected to unbelievable torture, then sentenced to die by burning at the stake.

When Suzanne Diego’s father was burned for being Jewish, she vowed to protect her unborn child and fled to a convent. The sisters agreed to raise her daughter as a Catholic.

Now an adult, Teresa has been sent to nurse a dying Spanish nobleman, Roberto Velez. His previous nurse has been taken by the Inquisition. Teresa has never been exposed to the intrigues of household help but soon learns to guard her words.

Her status is unique as she isn’t a servant, yet she’s not an equal to Roberto’s son, Luis, though the two speak often about Roberto’s care.

Roberto is dying, but he tells Teresa many troubling things about his family. He readily tells her that his family is Jewish but converted to Catholicism to avoid the Inquisition. He also explains that he rarely spent any time with his wife after Luis was born. Instead he had many affairs, even taking his sister Isabella as a lover. When she gave birth to a daughter, the child was whisked away to be raised by another woman.

Soon his wife began to go quietly mad and eventually died, leaving Luis confused and unable to express his hurt.

Isabella now roams about the manse all night. It is clear that she’s mentally troubled, but Teresa tries to understand and help the old woman.

When Catrin became Roberto’s nurse, few knew that she was Isabella and Roberto’s child. Luis was immediately attracted to Catrin, and the two became lovers. Now Catrin languishes in Torquemada’s dungeons.

The local bishop and Roberto had been friends for many years. He keeps Roberto’s secrets while the Velez fortune allows him to live especially well, but even he can’t get Catrin released.

Things begin to crumble when Roberto dies. Isabella makes a terrible scene. Within days, she has been sentenced to burn alongside her daughter, Catrin. Now Teresa’s history is known and she is in grave danger.

On top of that, one of the Velez servants has a devious plan. If Luis is taken by the Inquisition, the property will belong to the church, making it possible for the servant to become rich managing it.

Just as it appears that Luis and Teresa are doomed, the bishop appears. He has made a deal that will allow them to leave the country and start a new life far from Torquemada’s crazed Inquisition.

Sadly, history has many stories of the atrocities we humans have committed against one another. I’m thankful that there are many more stories about the good things we have accomplished. To learn about all the good, the bad and ugly things in history, just stop at your public library and check it out.

AT A GLANCE
BOOK:
“Street of Death”
AUTHOR: Mary Ann Mitchell
PUBLISHER: Medallion Press
PUBLISHED: Oct. 1, 2007
PAGES: 396

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