Synopses & Reviews
"He [Lewis] has been painstakingly, novel by novel, constructing an oeuvre that puts him in the ranks of the country's must-read authors."Peter Davis, author and Academy Awardwinning director
In Mexico City, the Holy Office of the Inquisition holds sway over the people. Fray Alonso, its most zealous advocate, awaits promotion and passage to Spain but, outmaneuvered by his rivals, he is instead sent north through the country, in search of heretics to bring before the tribunal.
What appears at first to be a futile journey becomes a great test of faith, as Alonso forms an unusual connection with his captured heretic. The bond between them forces Alonso to question every element of the faith and doctrine he has held so dear.
Alonso's diary follows the priest and his captive as they come across questions of faith, love, and morality, and what it is to liveand diein a state of grace. Interwoven with Alfonso's story is that of the Marranos and their role not only in New Spain, as Mexico was then known, but in the early Jewish settlements in California.
Jeffrey Lewis is the author of Meritocracy: A Love Story, The Conference of the Birds, Theme Song for an Old Show, and Adam the Kingfour novels that comprise The Meritocracy Quartet, to be published as one volume in 2013 by Hausand Berlin Cantata. He has twice been the recipient of the Independent Publishers Gold Medals for Literary Fiction and has won two Emmys and the Writers' Guild Award for his work as a writer and producer on the critically acclaimed television series Hill Street Blues.
Review
"Written in the thoroughly convincing voice of a 17th-century friar doing the bidding of the Inquisition, this gorgeous novel pits a mute prisoner's moral integrity against the unraveling certainty of his pious captor. At the end of Jeffrey Lewis's unforgettable, exquisitely rendered story, I closed the book and wept. Where has this author been all my life?"
Monica Wood, author of When We Were The Kennedys, Any Bitter Thing, and Ernie's Ark.
Review
“Told, arrestingly, in journal form. . . . We follow Alonsos journey as he is dispatched by the Inquisitor General to the countrys northern frontier to root out ‘heresy, apostasy, backsliding. . . . This somber work seeks to uncover those subterranean impulses that surge beneath Alonsos fate.” Literary Review
Review
"Written in the thoroughly convincing voice of a 17th-century friar doing the bidding of the Inquisition, this gorgeous novel pits a mute prisoner's moral integrity against the unraveling certainty of his pious captor. At the end of Jeffrey Lewis's unforgettable, exquisitely rendered story, I closed the book and wept. Where has this author been all my life?"
Monica Wood, author of When We Were The Kennedys, Any Bitter Thing, and Ernie's Ark.
"Told, arrestingly, in journal form... we follow Alonsos journey as he is dispatched by the Inquisitor General to the countrys northern frontier to root out heresy, apostasy, backsliding... This sombre work seeks to uncover those subterranean impulses that surge beneath Alonsos faith."
Literary Review
"An admirably convincing period piece...Lewis has created a fascinating figure in Fray Alonso...evocative and challenging."
Publishers Weekly
"Jeffrey Lewis The Inquisitors Diary is a succinct gem of literary fiction."
Kirkus Reviews
Review
“Consistently entertaining.”
Review
"Looks at the generation that came of age in the Sixties; the first two titles covered the 1960s and 1970s. . . . His opening chapter, in which his marvelous ear for idiomatic speech is revealed as much through narration as in dialog, hints at the concepts he will explore: the vagaries of love, the odd consorting of dignity and temptation, and, yes, the fragility of creation and existence...That fine ear of Lewis's . . . makes his prose style the book's strength."
Review
“Lewis catches the thrill of proximity to America's Eastern WASP aristocracy to an uncomfortable degree: their studied vagueness, their heartiness, the aloofness that cannot be copied.”
Review
“Shot through with high intelligence and deep feeling, the novel perfectly balances its several tones—lyrical, ironic, and sweet, against the foreboding gravity of the Viet-Nam War. A book that delivers both intellectually and emotionally, Meritocracy is a wise and moving debut.”
Review
"Meritocracy is a dramatic, riveting novel of our times."
Review
“An admirably convincing period piece. . . . Lewis has created a fascinating figure in Fray Alonso.”
Review
"A succinct gem of literary fiction."
Review
“Intriguing. . . . Lewis treats the subject seriously and sincerely, with nothing but respect for the thought process of a believer.”
Review
“Lives are not seamlessly sewn together, but rather forged by coincidence, necessity, and expectation, a fact that Lewis brilliantly conveys. . . . Lewis’ memories portray a modern, American life.”
Review
“You start with these characters, and through them you tell a social history of the country. . . . I really can't recommend [
The Meritocracy Quartet] highly enough.”
Review
“Pitch-perfect. . . . Quirky, rueful, and wise.”
Review
“Lewis is a master of the subtle interplay of coincidence and character, the light tripping of events that lead to a disaster that seems at once inevitable and yet shocking.”
Review
“A powerful and really striking portrait of the inner and outer lives of the cultural elite of this generation. Lewis is a wonderful writer. . . . As a true novelist, transforming the lived experience to find its meanings, both for himself and for his readers, Lewis becomes an alchemist of the soul, his words then, taking us to places far beyond. . . . A deeply rewarding experience.”
Synopsis
A zealous advocate of the Mexican Inquisition forms an unusual bond with a captured heretic and questions his faith.
Synopsis
Set in Mexico City in 1649, when the Spanish Inquisition holds sway,
TheInquisitor’s Diary takes the form of the diary of Fray Alonso, the most zealous advocate of their mission, as he struggles to win promotion in the church. Outmaneuvered by his rivals, he is dispatched on a seemingly futile journey to the north, where he unexpectedly befriends a captured heretic—a
Marrano, or crypto-Jew—and finds himself questioning all he believes in. Thought-provoking and philosophical, this novel brings the Inquisition to troubling life, with all its moral darkness and complexity.
“We follow Alonso’s journey as he is dispatched by the Inquisitor General to the country’s northern frontier to root out ‘heresy, apostasy, backsliding.’ . . . This somber work seeks to uncover those subterranean impulses that surge beneath Alonso’s fate.”—Literary Review
Synopsis
Mexico City, 1649. The Spanish Inquisition holds sway over the capital and at its core lies one ambition: the submission of all to the Catholic faith. Fray Alonso is the most zealous advocate of their mission; amidst the veiled discords of the Holy Office, his diary reveals a world where politics and sanctity are intertwined as he seeks to win the promotion that will gratify his aspirations of both stature and piety. However, outmanoeuvered by his rivals in a struggle for power, Alonso is forced to leave the city on a seemingly futile journey northward where an unlikely friendship with a captured heretic will prove the catalyst for a revolution of his assumptions. His sole prisoner, Juan, a mute, embodies a strangely magnanimous grace. Devoid of a human voice, Juan forges a mysterious connection with Alonso that speaks for something greater than words: the belief in an all-encompassing love. As Alonso is forced to question all his received values, he is left with a choice between instinctual justice and his own pride and desire: their bond proves to be simultaneously a blessing and a test. Lewis's engrossing narrative traces the search for a transcendent divine truth, which is, perhaps, beyond our comprehension. Turbulent and evocative, his tale asks ultimately; if God offers no epistemological answers, in what can we place our faith?
Synopsis
Set against the backdrop of four decades of changing American landscape, the characters in The Meritocracy Quartet sweep in and out of this grand narrative, reflecting the passage of time and the rise of different social and cultural ideals. The four novels are a testament to Americas changing personality - each seeking to define it for themselves. For America is the central character, the panorama against which the characters play out their lives.
Synopsis
Acclaimed writer Jeffrey Lewis is known for his deft portrayals of relatable figures from all walks of life. In
The Meritocracy Quartet, his four interlinking novels
Meritocracy: A Love Story,
The Conference of the Birds,
Theme Song for an Old Show, and
Adam the Kinghave been brought together for the first time into a single volume. Set against the backdrop of the changing American landscape over four decades,
The Meritocracy Quartet is a testament to the countrys evolving personality.
The quartet follows Louie, a Yale graduate from a modest background with a gift for forging connections in high and low places. Beginning in the 1960s, as he documents a going-away party for a fellow Yalie on his way to Vietnam, and continuing through his spiritual encounters with a 1970s group of city misfits, his turn to television writing in the 1980s, and a tragic love story between two of his close friends in the 1990s, Louie chronicles not only his own personal struggleshis silent love for his best friends girl, his delicate relationship with an at-times absent fatherbut also the attitudes, events, and people that marked his generation. From the Vietnam War to George W. Bush, from television trends to the divide between the haves and have-nots, The Meritocracy Quartet is a moving witness to everything America had to offer in the latter portion of the twentieth century.
About the Author
Jeffrey Lewis has won numerous awards for his novels, including the Independent Publishers Gold Medal for Literary Fiction. He is the author of Meritocracy: A Love Story, Adam the King, Theme Song for an Old Show, The Conference of the Birds - four novels that together comprise The Meritocracy Quartet - and Berlin Cantata. He has also received two Emmys and the Writers' Guild Award for his work as a writer and producer on Hill Street Blues. Lewis lives in Los Angeles and Castine, Maine