This book is a beautiful telling of a horrific story. Set in Spain in 1500, Estrella DeMadrigal is a normal teenage girl whose everyday life revolves around her well respected family and her best friend, Catalina. The peaceful existence of her charmed childhood is disrupted when soldiers build a bonfire of books in the town’s center.

This barbaric act signals a rebirth of anti-semitism and as the government decrees against Jews heighten, Estrella realizes that her family may have reason to be afraid. The already prejudiced town—which is divided into the “alajama” where Jews are forced to wear red circles on their clothes and are locked in at night, the Muslim section on the outskirts of town, and the Christian neighborhoods which hold all of the power—turns against one another as neighbors accuse each other of secretly being Jewish.

The slim book packs a powerful story complete with secrets, betrayal, forbidden love, and torture. Hoffman tackles themes of racism, sexism, and religious intolerance through Estrella’s naïve eyes, but even as she realizes the terror of untamed hatred, Estrella grows to accept and love her family and their heritage. Through Estrella’s journey and the climactic ending, readers are reminded of the importance of remembering the horrors of the past.