Chapters 5 - 8 Summary

In Chapter 5, arrests follow soon after the burning. The Arrias family is arrested. Their family had converted to Christianity a century before, when Jews were expelled; but they have been accused of practicing Judaism secretly. They are accused of being "Marranos" - secret Jews. The arrests make Estrella sick to her stomach. All it takes, Estrella reveals, is for someone to accuse, and that means the accused is guilty. The townspeople are humming with rumors about the Arriases. The trial finds them guilty; the children will be sent to live and raised by true Christians, while the adults will be put to death.

Estrella discovers Catalina and her mother breaking into the Arrias house, to steal linen and silverware. Catalina's mother has been among those to denounce the Arriases at their trial. Estrella cancels her needlepoint lessons with Catalina's mother and...