Daughters of the Inquisition

Daughters of the Inquisition by Dr. Elizabeth Carter

1491 Toledo trembles under the shadow of the Spanish Inquisition.

For seventeen-year-old Isabel de Vargas, life has always been a careful performance—attending Mass, repeating prayers, and living as a dutiful Christian daughter. But one hidden Sabbath candle reveals the truth her family has spent generations protecting: they are conversos, descendants of Jews forced to convert, clinging to the remnants of their faith in secret.

When a zealous inquisitor arrives with a new tribunal, suspicion ignites like dry tinder. Neighbors whisper. Friends disappear. And the Vargas family becomes a target in a city where the smallest rumor can lead to the dungeon.

Dragged into the terrifying machinery of the Holy Office, Isabel faces coercion, betrayal, and the threat of death at the pyre. Yet in the darkness, she discovers a fragile underground network of conversos determined to survive—and Diego de Haro, a young nobleman whose forbidden love places him on a collision course with his own blood.

As the noose tightens, Isabel must escape across a collapsing world toward a distant empire where her people are welcomed instead of hunted. From shadowed cells to storm-torn seas, her journey becomes a testament to courage, heritage, and the flame that refuses to die.

Daughters of the Inquisition is a sweeping historical novel about identity reclaimed, love tested by fire, and faith carried through generations. Dr. Elizabeth Carter brings to life a powerful story of resilience in one of history’s darkest eras—and a young woman who dares to rise from its ashes.