Last Kabbalist of Lisbon by Richard Zimler

This was the first book I read in Lisbon. It tells the story of a young man in Lisbon during the 1500s whose Jewish family and friends are threatened as the Inquisition spreads from Spain through Portugal. The book is part historical novel and part mystery story - reviews compared to In the Name of the Rose and Count of Monte Cristo. While I didn't think it reached the level of complexity represented by those books, I did enjoy it.

For me, though, the experience of reading this book will always be intertwined with my own experiences of getting to know Lisbon as a tourist. We had a great trip there, and on our first afternoon took a walking tour of several neighborhoods. Our guide, extremely knowledgeable and agreeable, answered myriad questions we had about the city and the history. At one point, we were walking through the Alfama, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Lisbon. I said that our guide book mentioned an old Jewish quarter in the Alfama and asked her to point out any buildings or items of note. She responded apologetically but quickly - there were no real remnants of Judaism left for us to see. While I usually seek out the Jewish sites while on vacation, there was practically nothing in Lisbon, except for a memorial plaque in one of the main squares commemorating the slaughter of Jews during the Inquisition. Our map noted one synagogue which I distantly remember visiting on my last trip to Lisbon ten years ago, but compared to other countries I have visited there was precious little to see.

So it was with that backdrop that I read The Last Kabbalist - the narrator describing how Jews were tortured and burned in the streets, then my own visit seeing where Lisbon, otherwise very cosmopolitan and diverse, is today. In conclusion, I engaged with the book very deeply but I don't know how much of my affinity towards it coincides with my visit there.