ENGLISH CORNER, CON LINDA JIMÉNEZ – This week’s trivia question:  What is the meaning of the word “zahara”?

Joyce Yarrow was born in the Bronx and now lives in Seattle.  She has worked as a screenwriter, singer-songwriter, multimedia performance artist, and is a member of the world music vocal ensemble, Abráce. Joyce is a Pushcart nominee, whose stories and poems have been widely published. She considers the setting of her books to be characters in their own right and teaches workshops on “The Place of Place in Suspense Writing.”

Her latest book, Zahara and the Lost Books of Light, is a historical novel with elements of magic realism, mystery and suspense. Seattle journalist Alienor Crespo travels to Spain to complete the process of receiving the citizenship that has been offered to descendants of Jews who were expelled in 1492. As she relives history through her vijitas, or “visits” from female ancestors, Alienor also confronts modern-day extremism and commits herself to protecting an endangered “Library of Light” – a hidden treasure trove of medieval Hebrew and Arabic books that were miraculously saved from the fires of the Inquisition.