Book Review

I just finished reading The Forgetting River: A Modern Tale of Survival, Identity, and the Inquisition, chronicling the author's search for clues about the religious background of her ancestors.

Doreen Carvajal is a New York Times journalist in France who grew up in California.  Her family came from Costa Rica, and before that from Spain, probably in Andalucia, around the time of the Spanish Inquisition.  She was raised a Catholic but recently became suspicious that her family's roots were Jewish.

When genealogical records failed to offer the proof she sought, Carvajal immersed herself in the Spanish culture by living for several months a year in the hillside Andalucian town of Arcos de la Frontera.  She compared the current religious traditions of the city with those of the Jewish people before and during the Inquisition with surprising results.

Her investigations included searching the history of anyone with the name Carvajal, which took her into the genealogical records of the Mexican Inquisition that are held at U.C. Berkeley, as well as obtaining dna analysis.

Although this book has no direct connection to the Cerf family, it is a fascinating look into how to conduct genealogical research that goes beyond a search of records.  Carvajal explores the climate during the Inquisition for the Jewish people and the conversos, those who converted to Catholicism to escape torture and death.  This book is a worthwhile read for anyone curious about Jewish history during the Inquisition.  Jewish traditions come to life in this heartfelt search for ancestral connection.