Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

While reading the reviews of this book, I saw a statement that compared in glowingly to "People of the Book", which I absolutely loved. I wanted to love this book, but I got about half-way through and had to give up on it. I liked the dual plot, a past and present story. I liked the characters in the present story and may go back to reading it just to see how it ends. The story of the past about orphans who arrive in England to escape the Spanish Inquisition was very interesting, but I've read better ones. I just felt that the book got bogged down with letters to rabbis and philosophers. Maybe Jewish scholars would find it interesting. I got the point about the letters being written by a brilliant young girl and not the blind Jewish rabbi and scholar she worked for, but unless you are turned on by philosophy, I wouldn't recommend this book. I'm an avid reader of historical fiction, but this was not my cup of tea.