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Dreaming in Medieval by Judith Krieger Macpherson

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Dreaming in Medieval

The Life of Pablo de Santa María and Beyond: A Novel

by Judith Krieger Macpherson

Length 9 hours 6 minutes

Language English

Narrators April Doty & Rob Vlock

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Summary
About the author

Solomon Ha Levi is the chief rabbi of Burgos, in the Kingdom of Castile, but in 1391, after anti-Jewish riots raged throughout the land, he decided to convert to Christianity. He becomes a priest and takes the name Pablo de Santa María. In time, he is appointed Bishop of Burgos and joins the heady world of court politics and church hierarchy. He is not alone amongst the Jewish elite of his time to convert to Christianity, but he begins to doubt the sincerity of his conversion and regrets the loss of the life he left behind.

His wife, Yehudit, does not convert to Christianity, and she lives alone in Burgos. In her dreams, she and her husband discuss all topics related to life and love, and they also discuss the rising tide of anti-Jewish hatred that will culminate in disaster for the Jews of Spain.

Pablo’s descendants, all conversos, ride this wave and seek to preserve life and limb as they try to outwit their oppressors.

Fiction Historical Fiction

Judith Krieger Macpherson has a PhD in Hispanic Languages and Literatures from the University of California at Los Angeles. Her doctoral thesis is about the life, times, and literary production of Pablo de Santa María. After completing her doctorate, she decided to write a novel about him in the hope of sharing his history with anyone interested in the fate of the Spanish Jews who were persecuted and finally expelled from Spain in 1492. She is passionate about her subject and feels strongly that readers of her book might glean insights into why antisemitism is a constant, and why it is on the rise again today.

She is a retired teacher and lives with her husband, two cats, and twenty chickens in Somis, California.