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The Spanish Brothers
This true account of the Spanish Inquisition will leave you speechless. The conviction and courage demonstrated by sixteenth-century believers puts our present-day calamities in perspective, sharply, yet gently reminding us of the truth of the Word and the power of our Savior's love. All else pales in comparison.
-Lamplighter Publishing
-Lamplighter Publishing
413 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1882
13 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
About the author
Deborah Alcock
130 books5 followersDeborah Alcock (1835 – 1913) is best known as a late Victorian author of historical fiction focused on religious, evangelical themes.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 22, 2025
A moving story about Protestant martyrs during the Catholic Inquisition of Spain in the 1500s. The older writing style is difficult at times.
December 29, 2016
I haven't ever added a review before now, but this book is an incredible story of faith, love, and sacrifice. I've re-read it multiple times over the years and highly recommend it for all Christians. How will your faith stand under persecution? When the Spanish Inquisition comes after them, two brothers must make the ultimate decision.
February 15, 2015
Beautiful, beautiful story. I cried and laughed for joy as I read it, and almost sang aloud during some moments--though they would seem to be the saddest of all. Though the writing is in older English with a style that would scarcely be published today (Alcock seems to not be familiar with the phrase show don't tell) I was swiftly caught up in the story and the lives of the brothers. In angry moments my pulse beat faster and my eyes flew across the pages, in grief-filled moments I felt their sorrow and wept with them, I shared their anxieties and laughed for joy as they discovered God more. Despite a minor plot twist I didn't care for, the story flowed beautifully in showing God's power and grace, and the blessedness of knowing Him that overcomes all trials--even the torture chambers of the Inquisition.
Though dozens of characters, some of whom are beloved to the reader, die in the story, Alcock amazingly shows scarce a violent scene. Save for a swordfight between boys in which one is slightly injured, all violent scenes are show in retrospect, either a character or the narrator telling what happened in briefest terms. We see not so much what happened to the martyrs, as how God upheld them through it. Still, this is not a childrens book though excellent for highschoolers and I would also recommend caution in giving it to someone very sensitive to character hardships.
The spiritual/theological content--mostly consisting of Catholic vs. Protestant--could be difficult to understand for those not accustomed to such subjects. For any Christian who has studied the Reformation at all, or knows their faith, it shouldn't be an unsurmountable issue.
The main aspect of the book that I greatly appreciate is the historical accuracy. I believe the primary purpose of historical fiction is to reveal, enforce, and illustrate the Truth and Alcock did that excellently with this book.
There are so many more things I could say about this book that made me love it so much, but that would be sharing plot points, so I will refrain.
If you can't afford to buy this book, read it for free online (that's what I did). You will not regret the time!
Though dozens of characters, some of whom are beloved to the reader, die in the story, Alcock amazingly shows scarce a violent scene. Save for a swordfight between boys in which one is slightly injured, all violent scenes are show in retrospect, either a character or the narrator telling what happened in briefest terms. We see not so much what happened to the martyrs, as how God upheld them through it. Still, this is not a childrens book though excellent for highschoolers and I would also recommend caution in giving it to someone very sensitive to character hardships.
The spiritual/theological content--mostly consisting of Catholic vs. Protestant--could be difficult to understand for those not accustomed to such subjects. For any Christian who has studied the Reformation at all, or knows their faith, it shouldn't be an unsurmountable issue.
The main aspect of the book that I greatly appreciate is the historical accuracy. I believe the primary purpose of historical fiction is to reveal, enforce, and illustrate the Truth and Alcock did that excellently with this book.
There are so many more things I could say about this book that made me love it so much, but that would be sharing plot points, so I will refrain.
If you can't afford to buy this book, read it for free online (that's what I did). You will not regret the time!
October 28, 2012
'The Spanish Brothers' is a tender, encouraging tale of two brothers who are drawn into the Reformed faith during the Spanish Inquisition. One of the best books that I have EVER read.
December 26, 2014
A powerful story that's well worth the read.
December 11, 2024
dnf at about 3/4ths of the way through
This book is incredibly boring. It took me FOUR months to read as much as I did because I was just SO BORED.
This book is incredibly boring. It took me FOUR months to read as much as I did because I was just SO BORED.
August 3, 2019
A novel of the Spanish Inquisition. While the main characters are fictional, this whole book is populated with people who really lived and the events through which they suffered. This isn't a book to read for fun, but it's one from which I walk away awed, convicted, and inspired.
May 7, 2016
"El Dorado
Yo hé trovado."
Carlos and Juan Alvarez de Santillanos y Menaya are the noble but impoverished sons of the father who scratched that message in the glass of a window in the family castle. The father went missing soon after, presumed dead.
The brothers vow to seek him in the New World when they grow up. The elder son, Juan, joins the Army, the younger, Carlos, is intended for the Church. But the latter experiences a change of faith and begins to understand that their father's message may have had a different meaning.
Carlos has a chance encounter with the real-life muleteer Juliano Hernandez, who was burned at the stake in 1560 for distributing the Bible translated into Spanish. He starts to have Protestant leanings, which back in the Spain of the mid-16th century, meant becoming a heretic.
I was raised a Catholic, but when I grew old enough to do my own researches I soon became ashamed of the disgraceful history of the Church. Is it any wonder that as soon as the common people could actually read the New Testament for themselves they started to ask the sorts of questions Carlos does?:
'Where, in his Book, was purgatory to be found at all? Where was the adoration of the Virgin and the saints? Where were works of supererogation?'
Good points all, but here's an even better one - why quibble over religious truths unless you enjoy a conflict?
The Lutheran's were certainly right about the contents of the Bible, but who can possibly know about the heavenly truths? Why take sides between Jesus and Mary, for Christ's sake?
Of course the Protestants were in a small minority in Spain, but where they gained a majority, such as in England, they were every bit as persecutory, though not perhaps as bloodthirsty as the Holy Inquisition.
Even the names those monsters gave to their institutions betray a ghoulish irony. The place of imprisonment and torture was called the Santa Casa, or Holy House, the festival of public burnings the Auto-da-fé, Act of Faith.
Alcock chose a highly suitable time and place for a historical romance in the vein of Sir Walter Scott. Unfortunately she peopled it with insipid characters, then rendered it in soporifically soft-hearted prose, without a shred of Scott's grandiloquence, flair or lively humour.
Despite the setting and the dramatic events which brought shame to Sevilla, nothing really happens over the 400+ pages the The Spanish Brothers takes to unfold, just months of waiting for those gruesome sideshows, which were too visceral for a writer like Alcock to stare in the face when they do finally occur.
As the torpid plot slumbered on with paragraph after paragraph of pious dross, full of painfully over-wrought religious metaphors, I almost began to wish that the Inquisition hadn't been so tardy and deliberate in going about their business.
The Spanish Brothers is too partisan to be entirely well-intended, too long to end up anything but dull.
Yo hé trovado."
Carlos and Juan Alvarez de Santillanos y Menaya are the noble but impoverished sons of the father who scratched that message in the glass of a window in the family castle. The father went missing soon after, presumed dead.
The brothers vow to seek him in the New World when they grow up. The elder son, Juan, joins the Army, the younger, Carlos, is intended for the Church. But the latter experiences a change of faith and begins to understand that their father's message may have had a different meaning.
Carlos has a chance encounter with the real-life muleteer Juliano Hernandez, who was burned at the stake in 1560 for distributing the Bible translated into Spanish. He starts to have Protestant leanings, which back in the Spain of the mid-16th century, meant becoming a heretic.
I was raised a Catholic, but when I grew old enough to do my own researches I soon became ashamed of the disgraceful history of the Church. Is it any wonder that as soon as the common people could actually read the New Testament for themselves they started to ask the sorts of questions Carlos does?:
'Where, in his Book, was purgatory to be found at all? Where was the adoration of the Virgin and the saints? Where were works of supererogation?'
Good points all, but here's an even better one - why quibble over religious truths unless you enjoy a conflict?
The Lutheran's were certainly right about the contents of the Bible, but who can possibly know about the heavenly truths? Why take sides between Jesus and Mary, for Christ's sake?
Of course the Protestants were in a small minority in Spain, but where they gained a majority, such as in England, they were every bit as persecutory, though not perhaps as bloodthirsty as the Holy Inquisition.
Even the names those monsters gave to their institutions betray a ghoulish irony. The place of imprisonment and torture was called the Santa Casa, or Holy House, the festival of public burnings the Auto-da-fé, Act of Faith.
Alcock chose a highly suitable time and place for a historical romance in the vein of Sir Walter Scott. Unfortunately she peopled it with insipid characters, then rendered it in soporifically soft-hearted prose, without a shred of Scott's grandiloquence, flair or lively humour.
Despite the setting and the dramatic events which brought shame to Sevilla, nothing really happens over the 400+ pages the The Spanish Brothers takes to unfold, just months of waiting for those gruesome sideshows, which were too visceral for a writer like Alcock to stare in the face when they do finally occur.
As the torpid plot slumbered on with paragraph after paragraph of pious dross, full of painfully over-wrought religious metaphors, I almost began to wish that the Inquisition hadn't been so tardy and deliberate in going about their business.
The Spanish Brothers is too partisan to be entirely well-intended, too long to end up anything but dull.
Currently reading
September 20, 2009A hard read...but good. I've been reading it off and on for a year :)
April 1, 2022
It was about the Spanish Inquisition. Nuff said. Although I will say more. I really appreciated how the author included and honored those martyrs whose crowns were tarnished with their sufferings and failings. Not all martyrs were pure and unyielding. God be praised His Grace is sufficient. Our unfaithfulness is covered by His faithfulness.
January 16, 2021
"His face was sad; it would be a sad face always; but there was in it a look as of one who saw the end, and who knew that, however dark the way might be, the end was light everlasting."
August 9, 2021
I really enjoyed this book! Very well written and exciting premise!
I loved following Carlos's spiritual journey of finding Christ and his salvation and I liked how Alcock incorporated real life people into Carlos's spiritual development. I thought that the closeness between him and his brother Juan was especially touching. .
I thought that Beatriz could have been developed more. I did not like the way she acted towards Carlos when he requested her to write into her letter to his brother . But she was a minor character, so this subtracted little from the overall plot.
I'm excited to read more of Alcock's books if I can find them.
I loved following Carlos's spiritual journey of finding Christ and his salvation and I liked how Alcock incorporated real life people into Carlos's spiritual development. I thought that the closeness between him and his brother Juan was especially touching. .
I thought that Beatriz could have been developed more. I did not like the way she acted towards Carlos when he requested her to write into her letter to his brother . But she was a minor character, so this subtracted little from the overall plot.
I'm excited to read more of Alcock's books if I can find them.
January 30, 2015
Here is a vivid picture of believers feeling the effects of the early Reformation. Alcock's characters are believable, and we see the fear, the faith, the controversies, the danger, and the reality of forsaking all to follow Christ. We get to plumb the deep thoughts of believers as they wrestle with the prospect of rejection from their families and of torture. The narrative is never explicit about the physical suffering, but is so explicit about the mental anguish of believers being crushed that one finds it hard to believe that Alcock hasn't experienced persecution herself. I don't believe she did, but she must have understood what it meant from her vast study of the persecuted church and from her love of her Lord.
I was swept along with Carlos as he learned what it meant to turn to Christ, and as he followed him to the end. The final twist took me completely by surprise, and I found myself endeared to my friends in the book as well as to the book itself.
Also powerful for me was the way traditional authorities were set against Christ in the Reformation. Families, government, and communities are instituted by God and should be respected. But as far as they set themselves against the cause of Christ, no matter how sweetly or partially they seem to do it, they must be rejected. As a man not given to conflict, Carlos struggled deeply with this, not wanting to throw off the things he had been raised with. Yet in the end he knew his true Master, and his decision was firm. I could relate to this struggle, being held by some of the same ties that disoriented Carlos, and seeing his resolve to follow Christ motivated my decisions.
This is a powerful and affecting book, as well as a solid history of a seminal time in church history. We all live in light of the Reformation, and we will do well not to forget either the bloody price that was paid for it or the courage of those who paid that price.
I was swept along with Carlos as he learned what it meant to turn to Christ, and as he followed him to the end. The final twist took me completely by surprise, and I found myself endeared to my friends in the book as well as to the book itself.
Also powerful for me was the way traditional authorities were set against Christ in the Reformation. Families, government, and communities are instituted by God and should be respected. But as far as they set themselves against the cause of Christ, no matter how sweetly or partially they seem to do it, they must be rejected. As a man not given to conflict, Carlos struggled deeply with this, not wanting to throw off the things he had been raised with. Yet in the end he knew his true Master, and his decision was firm. I could relate to this struggle, being held by some of the same ties that disoriented Carlos, and seeing his resolve to follow Christ motivated my decisions.
This is a powerful and affecting book, as well as a solid history of a seminal time in church history. We all live in light of the Reformation, and we will do well not to forget either the bloody price that was paid for it or the courage of those who paid that price.
January 11, 2012
This was a great historical fiction novel, detailing the rise and fall of the Protestant church in Seville in a very catholic Spain and those that endured the persecution of the Inquisition. I enjoyed reading this book and found the spiritual truths easily accessible, but also thought the pacing was moderate to slow and the plot somewhat predictable. Overall, a good read.
October 8, 2016
The book starts slow as you get use to the old writing style but develops into an incredible story set in Spain during the Spanish Inquisition. The story demonstrates the power of God's word to transform the heart and provide comfort even in the midst of terrible persecution. This a must read to catch the heart of the reformation during this time period.
December 31, 2019
An amazing story of the faults of the catholic church and and the truth which is worth dying for
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews