The Lies of the Lion (2010) (edit title/settings)

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Characters edit see section history

• Jacob the Chronicler: Jacob – the Chronicler – stocky, optimistic – a free-spirit chronicler, makes money as a ship’s hand, straight, oily brunette (brown) hair, almond shaped hazel eyes, son of a cabinet maker from Friesland
• Abraham: Abraham – Jacob’s friend, agriculturalist who makes sacks for bareroot grape cuttings, thick skin creviced beyond his years, curly white hair, tall & skinny
• Nicolaes: Nicolaes - the rare gentle six foot tall sea captain, but stubborn - has a wife and kids, hates to be away but has to make money, draws beautiful maps and knows how to follow the stars, six ft tall
• Marie Belle: Marie Belle - dark eyelashes, dark eyes, wavy bright light brown hair, tanned skin, came to Amsterdam at the beginning of summer 1450, her mother died when she was young
• Monsieur Soeira: Monsieur Soeira – Marie Belle’s tall & lanky father who is a banker
• Issac Hune: Issac Hune – farmer from Gelderland, now residing at Akev, supplies Horehound
• Rebecca: Rebecca - Issac’s daughter, transparent green eyes, slender hands, hair hung long and without much curl, her nose turns up just a little
• Manuel Da Silva: Manuel da Silva – skipper of both the Red Lion and White Lion ships, wealthy Portuguese Merchant of Amsterdam, he and five other Portuguese Sephardim owned a ship and he had an office on his ship where he met with merchants that dealt heavily in diamonds.
• Miguel Dorta: Miguel Dorta - thick wavy, greasy, jet-black hair, large round almost black eyes, thick nose, and quite large, handsome and profile impressive, has unsavory reputation w/ women, ancestors from Catholic Spain, sold hacienda, came to Amsterdam
• Anabela Camaroon: Anabela Camaroon – in 1613 she is 18, Portuguese name, angelic, tall yet very thin, hair and skin pure white, eyes bright blue, pink cheeks, robust, from a family with means, mind of her own, only her great-grandmother was Jewish from Portugal. Anabela attended Protestant services with a friend’s family in Haarlem where she grew up
• Silvanus Camaroon: Silvanus Camaroon – Anabela’s father, his name is Biblical but also Latin silva "wood, forest", he is a miller. White hair and full beard, soft but stern. From Frankfort
• Kuerze: Kuerze – her mother’s family is from Retske near Kurenets in Belarus but Kuerze has never been there. She lived in Antwerp before Amsterdam. Kuerze is not always easy nor the first to concede
• Monsieur de Brebon: Monsieur de Brebon or David de Brebon – wealthy Jewish Frenchman (poses as French Huguenot). He owns and rents out several of the lavish mansions along the canal, has his own mansion where he entertains, part owner of a ship at the port in Middleburg, He is a representative of the Dutch East India Company.
• Leeuw: Leeuw, the Lion born May 1615, Seba’s son the next Chronicler. He is a representative of the Dutch East India Company.Leeuw is twenty, handsome, well-educated,Chronicler, brains for politics, heart of his namesake, the Lion, bright blonde thick unruly curls, inherited his mother’s bright blue eyes and pink cheeks, beautiful dusky skin.
• Hester: Hester (Antje) – 17 years old black servant girl with dark brown eyes. Her mother resides in Paris as a kept woman. Hester grew up with a family that had sisters she took care of. She is well educated but still the house servant.

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Amsterdam: The old Sephardic neighborhood of Amsterdam
• Akev: A fictional community south of Amsterdam

First Sentence edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Though it was difficult, this community of Jews fleeing the Inquisition built interesting, prosperous, loving lives for themselves and their children.: They had to hide their ethnicity to avoid persecution and while doing so built a strong community. They had loves and losses and each generation had their own set of conflicts but they survived.
• Funny things happen when you get creative with who you really are: The people in this story were Jewish but they had to improvise in a variety of ways to hide that and sometimes the outcomes were not what you would expect.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Suellen Ocean (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Notes for Parents edit see section history

This novel contains details of Inquisitional sadness and explicit sex scenes.

Subjects edit see section history

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