The Sephardic Cycle

Series · 4 books · 1996-2007

By Richard Zimler

Books in series

The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon

1996

The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon, an international bestseller, is an extraordinary novel that transports listeners into the universe of Jewish Kabbalah during the Lisbon massacre of April 1506. Just a few years earlier, Jews living in Portugal were dragged to the baptismal font and forced to convert to Christianity. Many of these New Christians persevered in their Jewish prayers and rituals in secret and at great risk; the hidden, arcane practices of the kabbalists, a mystical sect of Jews, continued as well. One such secret Jew was Berekiah Zarco, an intelligent young manuscript illuminator. Inflamed by love and revenge, he searches, in the crucible of the raging pogrom, for the killer of his beloved uncle Abraham, a renowned kabbalist and manuscript illuminator, discovered murdered in a hidden synagogue along with a young girl in dishabille. Risking his life in streets seething with mayhem, Berekiah tracks down answers among Christians, New Christians, Jews, and the fellow kabbalists of his uncle, whose secret language and codes by turns light and obscure the way to the truth he seeks.

Hunting Midnight

2003

From the internationally bestselling author of The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon comes a novel of incomparable scope and beauty that takes the reader on an epic journey from war-ravaged nineteenth-century Europe to antebellum America. A bereft child, a freed African slave, and the rich history of Portugal’s secret Jews collide memorably in Richard Zimler’s mesmerizing novel—a dazzling work of historical fiction played out against a backdrop of war and chaos that unforgettably mines the mysteries of devotion, betrayal, guilt, and forgiveness. Hunting Midnight At the dawn of the nineteenth century in Portugal, John Zarco Stewart is an impish child of hotheaded emotions and playful inquisitiveness, the unwitting inheritor of a faith shrouded in three hundred years of secrecy—for the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula have been in hiding since the Inquisition. But a season of loss and bitter discovery brings his innocence to an abrupt end. It is only the ministrations of a magical stranger, brought to Porto by his seafaring father, that restore his Midnight, an African healer and freed slave, the man who will become John’s greatest friend and determine the course of his destiny. When Napoleon’s armies invade Portugal, violence again intrudes on John’s fragile peace, and seals his passage into adulthood with another devastating loss. But from the wreckage comes revelation as he uncovers truths and lies hidden by the people he loved and trusted most, and discovers the act of unspeakable betrayal that destroyed his family—and his faith. And so his shattering quest begins as he travels to America, to hunt for hope in a land shackled by unforgivable sin. With stunning insight and an eye for rich historical detail—from the colorful marketplaces of Porto to the drowsy plantations of the American South, from the Judaism John discovers as a young man to the mystical Africa that Midnight conjures from his memories—in Hunting Midnight Richard Zimler has crafted a masterpiece. From the Hardcover edition.

Guardian of the Dawn

2005

In an age of faith and fire In a land of many gods A journey of survival is about to begin.… In his acclaimed novels Hunting Midnight and The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon, Richard Zimler has spun luminous historical fiction from the experience of the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula. Spanning decades and continents, his new novel is set in the lush world of colonial India during the age of the Inquisition. Here is the astonishing story of Tiago Zarco, a young man whose family fled forced conversions in Portugal and now lives in a twilight between local Hindus and the ruling Portuguese Catholics. As Tiago comes of age in Goa, the capital of the spice trade, he struggles to keep the far-reaching powers of the Inquisition from destroying his family and pulling him apart from the Hindu girl he loves. When an act of betrayal puts his beloved father in prison, Tiago is forced to hunt down the traitor and make an unimaginable choice…and for him, a harrowing journey begins–one that will show him the depths of human depravity, and the dark, poisonous salvation of revenge…. At once a grand historical adventure and a riveting tale of love and mystery, Guardian of the Dawn brilliantly illuminates a world that has rarely been described–in a novel that blazes with passion, fury, and hope.

The Seventh Gate

2007

This is a novel of Berlin, prophesy, and unfinished portraits. In the Author's Note to his internationally bestselling novel, "The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon", Richard Zimler described how he discovered a long-lost 16th-century manuscript in an Istanbul cellar written by a Portuguese kabbalist named Berekiah Zarco. More than 400 years later, Isaac Zarco becomes convinced by the pact between Hitler and Stalin - and other 'signs' - that an apocalyptic prophesy made by his ancestor is about to come terribly true. Is he mad to believe that by decoding these ancient kabbalistic texts he might be the one to save the world? Set in 1930s Berlin, during the Nazis' rise to power, "The Seventh Gate" brings together Sophie Riedesel, an intelligent, artistic, and sexually adventurous fourteen-yearold with Isaac Zarco and his friends, most of whom are Jews, ex-circus performers and underground activists. When a series of forced sterilizations, brutal murders and 'disappearings' to concentration camps decimates the group, Sophie must fight with all her ingenuity and guile to save all that she loves about Germany - at any cost. In its beautifully shaped portraits and in its chilling but sensuous evocation of Berlin in the 1930s, "The Seventh Gate" is at one and the same time a love story and tragedy - and a tale of ferocious heroism.

Author

Richard Zimler

Author · 18 books

Richard Zimler was born in Roslyn Heights, New York, in 1956. He has a bachelor's degree from Duke University (1977) and a master's degree in journalism from Stanford. In 1990, he moved to Porto, Portugal, where he taught journalism for sixteen years at the university level. In 2017, the city of Porto awarded Zimler its highest distinction, the Medal of Honor. At the ceremony, Porto's mayor described the novelist as "A citizen of Porto who was born far away, who makes the city greater and grander... Zimler projects Porto out into the world and brings the rest of the world to us." Richard has published twelve novels over the last 22 years, and his works have been translated into 23 languages. His most recent novel is THE INCANDESCENT THREADS, which was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Awards in the USA. In chronological order, his novels are: The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon, Unholy Ghosts, The Angelic Darkness, Hunting Midnight, Guardian of the Dawn, The Search for Sana, The Seventh Gate, The Warsaw Anagrams, Teresa Island (only in Portugal and Brazil), The Night Watchman, The Gospel According to Lazarus (The Lost Gospel of Lazarus in paperback) and The Incandescent Threads. His novels have appeared on bestseller lists in 12 different countries. Five of his books have been nominated for the prestigious International Dublin Literary Award: Hunting Midnight, The Search for Sana, The Seventh Gate, The Warsaw Anagrams and The Night Watchman. Richard has also published six children's books in Portugal. He writes his children's books in Portuguese and his novels in English. The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon, Hunting Midnight, Guardian of the Dawn, The Seventh Gate and The Incandescent Threads form the "Sephardic Cycle," a group of inter-connected - but fully independent - novels about different branches and generations of a Portuguese Jewish family. You do not need to read them in any order. Each book stands on its own. You can read the first chapters of all his books at his website: www.zimler.com Richard's latest novel, The Incandescent Threads, is published by Parthian Books. It was a Number 1 Bestseller and Book of the Year in Portugal. It was also chosen as one of the Books of 2022 by the Sunday Times and Jewish Chronicle. Here is a brief synopsis: From the acclaimed author of The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon and The Warsaw Anagrams comes an unforgettable, deeply moving ode to solidarity, heroism and the kind of love capable of overcoming humanity’s greatest horror. Maybe none of us is ever aware of our true significance.... Benjamin Zarco and his cousin Shelly are the only two members of their family to survive the Holocaust. In the decades since, each man has learned, in his own unique way, to carry the burden of having outlived all the others, while ever wondering why he was spared. Saved by a kindly piano teacher who hid him as a child, Benni suppresses the past entirely and becomes obsessed with studying kabbalah in search of the ‘Incandescent Threads’ – nearly invisible fibres that he believes link everything in the universe across space and time. But his mystical beliefs are tested when the birth of his son brings the ghosts of the past to his doorstep. Meanwhile, Shelly – devastatingly handsome, charming and exuberantly bisexual – comes to believe that pleasures of the flesh are his only escape, and takes every opportunity to indulge his desires. That is, until he begins a relationship with a profoundly traumatised Canadian soldier and artist who helped to liberate Bergen-Belsen – and might just be connected to one of the cousins’ departed kin. Across six non-linear mosaic pieces, we move from a Poland decimated by World War II to modern-day New York and Boston, hearing friends and relatives of Benni and Shelly tell of the deep influence of the beloved cousins on their lives. For within these intimate testimonies may lie the key to why they were saved and the unique bond that unites the