Apples of Gold in Filigrees of Silver:

During the Spanish Inquisition, daring individuals defied and thwarted persecution by writing works in which hidden meanings were apparent only to Jews or fellow conversos, the descendants of Jewish converts to Christianity. Colbert Nepaulsingh analyzes three seminal, sixteenth-century novels as converso works—Lazarillo, a prototype of the picaresque novel; El Abencerraje, of the Moorish novel; and The Seven Books of Diana, of the pastoral novel—using them as points of entry to explore the complex era in which the renowned diverse society of medieval Spain gave way to oppression and resistance.