Chapters 1-4 Summary

In Chapter 1, sixteen year-old Estrella de Mardigal lives in the town of Encaleflora, a tiny village in the region of Aragon in Spain. Her family has lived there for five hundred years. One day, Estrella and her best friend, sixteen year-old Catalina, see something is burning in the town plaza, and decide to go and see what it is. Estrella and Catalina have grown up together, having been best friends since being babies. Soldiers are burning books in the square, books belonging to a Jew. There has been a law banning Jewish, medical, and magic books. Estrella explains that she and Catalina are Christians themselves, but while Catalina applauds the burning, Estrella does not. She thinks instead of her mother, Abra, who has taught her that all people are from the same dust. Abra makes beautiful yarn, and is on her...