IN THE GARDEN OF THE CALIPH

The year was 1050. The city of Cordoba was filled with the fragrance of orange blossoms. Jewish and Moslem scholars studied the scrolls in the Great Library, the largest in the world . They pondered the wisdom of the Greeks and looked for new meanings in philosophy, engineering, medicine, astronomy, and the arts. Poetry, in their musical tongue, flowed in their beautiful land. The Great Mosque and the Great Synagogue housed sister religions of people at peace and friendship with one another. IN THE GARDEN OF THE CALIPHS tells of two families. Ibn Mendes and ibn Abu, Jewish and Moslem, who are the closest of friends. They celebrate their festivals, Passover and the end of Ramadan, together. They share one another’s triumphs and worries. The story centers around two twelve year old girls, Lucia ibn Mendes and Raya ibn Abu. Forty years before, Cordoban artisans, led by a Berber mob, stormed the elegant city of the extravagant Caliph and destroyed his palaces. Lucia is drawn to this place. She feels that within the ruins, the Caliph’s wonderful garden still flourishes. If she can find her way there, she will learn a secret. There are two parallel complications, regarding the girls’ brothers. Lucia’s brother, Reuben, goes on a mysterious and frightening, to his family, trade journey to far away Cathay with the famous traveler, Benjamin of Tudela. Raya’s brother Ahmed is lured into an outlaw gang, the Almorides. Secondary characters include fictional and actual historical characters: The parents, Fatima, maker of cakes, Ali, a judge at the mosque, David, teacher of Talmud, and Miriam, expert weaver and captain of the household. Rebecca, the timid orphan servant girl with a beautiful voice. Lubna, who dared to refuse marriage and earns her living as a scribe. Lubna takes the girls to see Maria the Alchemist, one of the founders of the science of chemistry. a person who actually existed, but in Salerno. Abraham, Lucia’s pesty little brother. Maimon, a boy who smiles at Lucia and meets her in the Caliph’s garden. Historical characters include poet Solomon ibn Gabirol, who can cast gloom onto the merriest of occasions, and the great Nagid, chief rabbi of Grenada and prime minister to the king. Does Lucia get to the Caliph’s garden? Yes, she does. She and Raya find a treasure, a famous vase (later called the Eleanor vase because it was presented by Eleanor of Aquitaine to her husband, king of France) but also the greatest secret as her eyes meet those of Maimon over the Caliph’s remarkable pool. The story ends with the return of Reuben and Benjamin from their trip, bringing treasures from the Orient. Benjamin resumes his courtship of Lubna, Rebecca sings. Ahmed leaves the Almorides, and Lucia, sensing what it means to be a woman, makes a secret pact with Maimon. (I named him Maimon with the fancy that they might be the great grandparents of the famous Maimonides.)