GUARDIAN OF THE DAWN By Richard Zimler Constable Price: £5.95 Pages: 371

Set in the Portuguese colony of Goa in the early 17th century, Guardian of the Dawn is the third in a series of Richard Zimler's related, though independent, novels on different generations of a Portuguese-Jewish family, the Zarcos. If you are not interested in historical novels or inter-generational family dramas, or have read enough Jewish writerly rage for the moment, chances are you will skip the rest of this review. So let me get to the point quickly. Yes, Zimler is hugely political and, in his words, "a writer interested in exposing instances of injustice that others would prefer to forget", but he is also a master craftsman and this book is Art.

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The historical narrative is accessible and woven effortlessly into the beautiful, tragic life story of young Tiago Zarco, who lives with his father Berekiah, sister Sophiya and Nupi, their beloved Hindu maidservant, just outside Goa (and, therefore, just beyond the limits of Portuguese authority). No hippy haven then, Goa was a bustling port full of Europeans getting rich on the spice trade, where forceful conversions of Jews, Muslims and Hindus to Christianity were the norm. So rife was the place with vice, pomposity and religious intolerance that "they'd arrest Christ if he dared show his face in [that] wretched city".

In the middle of this medieval nightmare, the Zarcos are a happy, close-knit family, proud of their Jewish heritage which they try to follow as discreetly as possible. But it is a time of murder, intrigue and treachery and, soon enough, while visiting his "New Christian" brother Isaac in Goa, Berekiah is arrested and tortured by the Inquisition for information on the identity of "secret Jews". Tiago is imprisoned soon after and he serves out an unjust, cruel sentence in the prisons of Lisbon for many years. Of course, Tiago's life falls to pieces, but Zimler doesn't just give us a sob story. With nothing left to lose, all Tiago wants is revenge. Thoughts of bloody retribution keep him alive, and as the years roll by he develops a remarkable ability for duplicity-the cornerstone of the criminal mind.

While the novel is a testimonial to the thousands who suffered under the Inquisition in India (it is based on real life narratives from the time), it is also a riveting murder mystery. Tiago is an ingenious, often erroneous detective, and though he lands a few good, righteous punches, his mind and spirit are altered, making him just as bad as his enemies. In Tiago's metamorphosis from victim to victimiser, the novel is also an inquiry into the nature of evil. But the most brilliant construct of the book is perhaps the one that unfolds at the very end, when you recognise Iago-from Shakespeare's Othello-in Tiago. In a spectacular juggling act with the whole Life vs Art vs Life issue, Zimler has created a background for Iago's "motiveless malignity" towards his good friend Othello. Suggesting, perhaps, that there is always a reason for what happens-if only you can bear to look closely and honestly enough.

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