The Golden Bell

Arriving in Cordoba as a young man in 1088 to learn medicine, Yehuda Halevi is enchanted by a world in which Muslim, Jewish and Christian courtiers share poetry and philosophy in their elegant gardens. Here he falls in love with Deborah, the spirited daughter of his host. In this turbulent world, however, Yehuda also encounters invasions and pirates, book burnings and bandits. Driven by conflict to move from city to city, Yehuda and Deborah are often parted - but always in the hope that they will one day return together to Cordoba. As Yehuda's fame grows as a poet and as a philosopher, his writings become increasingly mystical but also increasingly restless, for he yearns to travel to the holy city of Jerusalem. In 1140, as an old man, he must finally decide whether to stay with his family or begin the perilous voyage towards Egypt and Crusader Jerusalem... In this beautifully evocative story, Robert L. Stone transports the reader to twelfth-century Andalucia as he traces the extraordinary life of a man determined to devote himself - and his exceptional talent - to a greater truth.