Four 12-year-old Sephardic Jewish girls in different time periods leave their homelands but carry their religion, culture, language, music, and heritage with them.

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella’s expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 sends Benvenida fleeing from Toledo with her family, though she promises to remember where she came from. In 1923, Reina celebrates Turkish independence with her longtime friend and neighbor, a Muslim boy, causing her strict father to disown her and send her to live with an aunt in Cuba as punishment. Reina brings her mother’s oud with her and passes it on to Alegra, her daughter, who serves as a brigadista in Castro’s literacy campaign before fleeing to the U.S. in 1961. In Miami in 2003, Paloma, Alegra’s daughter, who has an Afro-Cuban dad, is excited to travel to Spain with her family to explore their roots. They find a miraculous connection in Toledo. Woven through all four girls’ stories is the same Ladino song (included with an English translation); as Paloma says, “I’m connected to those who came before me through the power of the words we speak, the words we write, the words we sing, the words in which we tell our dreams.” Behar’s diligent research and her personal connection to this history, as described in a moving author’s note, shine through this story of generations of girls who use music and language to survive, tell their stories, and connect with past and future.

Powerful and resonant. (sources) (Historical fiction. 10-15)

-Kirkus Review

First sentence: The sound of trumpets coming from the direction of our town gates tears me from sleep, my dreams forgotten as I jolt out of bed.

Premise/plot: Across So Many Seas contains four interconnected (three super-connected) historical stories or novellas. The time periods are 1492 (Spain), 1923 (Turkey), 1961 (Cuba), and 2003 (Miami, Florida).

The novel opens with Benvenida, our twelve-year-old narrator, learning of a new decree. ALL Jews must either a) convert to Christianity b) leave the country [Spain] or c) disobey by staying and risk being hanged. Some of the community--including some of her extended family--do choose to convert. They do not want to leave their homes, businesses, etc. The story chronicles their exodus as they flee their country and seek a new homeland. It's a tough, demanding journey.

The three following stories follow three generations of the same family. Reina, Alegra, and Paloma star in compelling stories of their own. The stories examine coming of age from a Jewish perspective. Though that isn't really doing any of the stories justice. There is great turmoil in the first three stories. In the first, the Jewish population is being persecuted. In the second, the family is living in a newly independent Turkey. In the third, she is coming of age in the midst of Cuba's revolution. The fourth story "closes the circle" or "bridges the gap" the narrator is traveling with her family to Spain to learn more about their cultural history.

My thoughts: I found this a great read. I really was invested with ALL of the stories. I sped through it. I used to speed through books all the time. As I get older, as my vision worsens, as reading becomes more physically demanding, I don't always give in to "page-turners." But I absolutely loved this one. ( )