HFVBT Review for Rocamora by Donald Michael Platt

Vicente Rocamora , a Freethinking man, enters the Dominican Order at the bidding of his family. Thought the church can be inhospitable, especially to those not limpezia de sangre, pure of blood. Vicente is charges with advancing his family by becoming a confessor for the royal family, but he longs to destroy the church's cruelty and escape his profession. Vicente quickly becomes the Infanta Dona Maria's confessor and spy for Count-Duke Olivares. But life at the Spanish Court is always a dangerous place.Vicente's old enemies haunt him, as well as new ones. Vicente longs to find out his mother's true origins, and has fallen madly in love with the unattainable Dona Maria.

This book of intrigue moves very quickly. The reader is quickly swept into the Spanish Court and into the Spanish way of life. The politics and church life really make the reader feel swept into the book. I find this an interesting time in history, but Platt brings it to life in all it's glory and despair.Vicente is an amazing character and I really liked him. Platt really brought him to life. I really enjoyed this book and hope to find out where Vicente ends up!

About the Author

Born and raised inside San Francisco, I graduated from Lowell High School and received my B.A. in History from the University of California at Berkeley and won a batch of literary cash awards while in graduate school at San Jose State.

When I moved to southern California, I began my professional writing career. I sold to the TV series, MR. NOVAK, ghosted YOUR HAIR AND YOUR DIET for health food guru, Dan Dale Alexander, and wrote for and with diverse producers, among them as Harry Joe Brown, Sig Schlager, Albert J. Cohen, and Al Ruddy as well as Paul Stader Sr., dean of Hollywood stuntman and stunt/2nd unit director. Also, options were taken on my unpublished WWII fighter ace novel and several treatments.

After living in Florianópolis, Brazil, setting of my horror novel A GATHERING OF VULTURES, Dark Hart 2007, Briona Glen 2012, I moved to Florida where I wrote as a with: VITAMIN ENRICHED, pub.1999, for Carl DeSantis, founder of Rexall Sundown Vitamins; and THE COUPLE’S DISEASE, Finding a Cure for Your Lost “Love” Life, pub. 2002, for Lawrence S. Hakim, MD, FACS, Head of Sexual Dysfunction Unit at the Cleveland Clinic.

Currently, I reside in Winter Haven, Florida. My magnum opus historical novel, ROCAMORA, set in 17th century Spain and Amsterdam during their Golden Ages, was released by RAVEN'S WING BOOKS at the end of December 2008. It has been republished by Briona Glen, September 2011. My completed sequel HOUSE OF ROCAMORA was published by Briona Glen November 2012, and I am polishing a completed novel set in the 9th century Carolingian Empire about another unusual historical character, Bodo, the Apostate.

Also available, is The House of Rocamora.
About HOUSE OF ROCAMORA
 

Publication Date: November 19, 2012

Raven's Wing Books

Paperback; 346p
ISBN-10:1618070916

A new life and a new name … House of Rocamora, a novel of the 17th century, continues the exceptional life of roguish Vicente de Rocamora, a former Dominican friar, confessor to the Infanta of Spain, and almost Inquisitor General.

After Rocamora arrives in Amsterdam at age forty-two, asserts he is a Jew, and takes the name, “Isaac,” he revels in the freedom to become whatever he chooses for the first time in his life. Rocamora makes new friends, both Christian and Jew, including scholars, men of power and, typically, the disreputable. He also acquires enemies in the Sephardic community who believe he is a spy for the Inquisition or resent him for having been a Dominican.

As Isaac Israel de Rocamora, he studies Medicine at Leyden and, at age forty-six, receives a license to practice. That same year Rocamora weds twenty-five year old Abigail Touro, and together they raise a large family. During his time in Amsterdam, Rocamora has a bizarre encounter with Rembrandt, serves the House of Orange as physician, and advises Spinoza before the philosopher’s excommunication. He survives a murder attempt, learns from the great English physician Harvey, and a surprise visit from a childhood friend leads to an unusual business venture.

Life is never routine or dull for Rocamora. The intrigues start with his arrival in Amsterdam and do not end until he takes his last breath.

I hosted this review of Rocamora for Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours.

Link to Tour Scheadule: http://hfvirtualbooktours.com/donaldmichaelplattvirtualtour/
Twitter Hashtag: #DonaldMichaelPlattVirtualTour

Thank you to Amy and Donald!