Dona Gracia The Woman who Led Jews to Safety in Muslim Lands

During the Inquisition, the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, waged a holy war that required Jews and Muslims to convert to Catholicism or risk prosecution and death by fire. Assets of the accused were seized and deposited in the royal treasury.This is the intimate story of Dona Gracia, Europe’s wealthiest woman, who helped Jews flee Europe during perilous times. Her merchant fleet sailed from Europe, with refugees on board, into the waiting arms of Suleiman the Magnificent, ruler of the Ottoman Empire and arch enemy of Charles V. The Sultan was a just man who rewrote Ottoman law to guarantee the continuation of religious freedom. Grateful for the chance to practice her religion openly, Dona Gracia financed the Sultan’s quarrels with European powers. In an exciting and provocative story lost for five centuries, Dona Gracia reflects both courage and human failings. She is a heroine whose story we can enjoy in this exciting narrative skillfully put together by author Aaron Nommaz.Dona Gracia sweeps a reader up into an important, but long-overlooked corner of the 16th century (including Jewish history) with all the drama of those times. Andrée Aelion Brooks,author and journalist