In this entertaining, thought-provoking detective graphic novel set in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a fictional Ilan Stavans seeks to solve a murder and locate a lost manuscript by a prominent 16th-century Crypto-Jew burned at the stake by the Spanish Inquisition.
When young Rolando Perez falls to his death from a cliff outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, the mysteries immediately begin to accumulate. Was he pushed or did he jump? What might Rolando have been so desperate to protect that he would sacrifice himself? And what does a colorful concha pastry have to do with any of this?
In the midst of the investigation, Professor Ilan Stavans arrives in Santa Fe to give a lecture about the area’s long-buried Jewish history. He’s looking forward to relaxing afterward with an evening at the opera, but his presentation on “crypto-Jews” attracts unexpected attention, and soon Ilan is drawn into a desperate race to find the long-lost documents that might hold the key to Rolando’s death. His amateur sleuthing leads him to taco joints, desert ranches, soaring cathedrals, and, finally, deep into the region’s past, where he encounters Luis de Carvajal, also called “El Iluminado.” In a sixteenth-century tale of martyrdom that eerily echoes Rolando’s, Carvajal fled Spain for colonial Mexico at the height of the Spanish Inquisition, searching for his religious heritage—a hunt for which he, like Rolando, would pay the ultimate price.
In El Iluminado, esteemed literary critic Ilan Stavans and author and illustrator Steve Sheinkin present a secret history of religion in the Americas, showing how thousands of European refugees have left a trail of ghostly footprints—and troves of mysteries—across the American Southwest. This paperback edition includes a new afterword recounting the amazing events that occurred after the original publication, including the real-life discovery of the long-lost memoir of Luis de Carvajal and its restoration to Mexico.
Industry Reviews
"El Iluminado is a revelation-a story that surprises at every turn, where the dusty histories of New Mexico's crypto-Jews are brought to life with sharp wit and striking visuals. It's the kind of graphic novel that stays with you well past the final page, inviting you to look deeper and think harder about our hidden histories." - Christopher Gonzalez, coauthor of Reel Latinxs: Representation in U.S. Film and TV "Stavans has done it again. . . . His writing breathes life into the characters, and co-conspirator Sheinkin brings a rhythmic pace to the panels that moves the mystery to its suspenseful end; his precise yet suggestive visual creations plant us firmly in a breathtaking New Mexico. Not since Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose have I come across such a scintillating ecclesiastical murder mystery." - Frederick Luis Aldama, author of Your Brain on Latino Comics: From Gus Arriola to Los Bros Hernandez "Crypto-Jews of the Southwest, your voices are about to be heard! Sheinkin and Stavans do justice to both academic scholarship and the graphic novel in this amazing new work." - Gary Shteyngart, author of Our Country Friends "A wondrous journey that boomerangs between the Old World and the New, between Mexico and El Norte, with Ilan Stavans on a search to find his identity in a landscape that constantly shifts, as if Krazy Kat had come to Santa Fe." - Jerome Charyn, author of The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson "El Iluminado is a mystery about the very concept of a mystery and our sometimes deadly fascination with it-a tale that reveals the uncomfortable parallels between the Spanish Inquisition and modern academia. Funny and thought-provoking, a graphic novel of anti-heroic proportions." - John Sayles, author of To Save the Man "A captivating tale about the Sephardic heart that still throbs, years after the conquest and the Inquisition, in the Latino heartland of New Mexico. Stavans and Sheinkin educate and thrill in this warmly felt story about memory and the search for identity in an age of global wandering." - Ruth Behar, author of An Island Called Home: Returning to Jewish Cuba "A death in the desert . . . missing documents . . . a stubborn priest . . . a persistent young woman grieving the loss of her cousin and trying to solve his death . . . Jewish symbols showing up in mysterious places. . . . Is this the plot of the latest Indiana Jones movie? Not quite, but maybe something even better. [El Iluminado] packs a punch that is at once a gripping whodunit and a fascinating lesson on crypto-Jews in New Mexico. . . . The story is fast-paced and fascinating, with a delightful blend of history and humor. . . . A beautifully entertaining book that will surely become a classic." -Jewish Book Council "Ilan Stavans and Steve Sheinkin's graphic novel takes a highly entertaining and informative journey through a largely unknown slice of New Mexican and Jewish history. . . . El Iluminado reads a bit like a crypto-Jewish DaVinci Code. . . . A reminder of the human longing that often drives those who search for their true religious and cultural identities." -Los Angeles Times "El Iluminado is a delightful surprise of a book. . . . A graphic novel turns out to be a great way to explore this religious history." -San Antonio Express-News
