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The novel’s struc­ture mir­rors the maze of con­tin­gen­cies and dan­gers that con­front­ed Spain’s Jews. Their rela­tion­ship is not fil­tered through mod­ern norms - Levine describes Loma’s unques­tion­ing loy­al­ty to the fam­i­ly patri­arch, but also her frus­tra­tion and fear that he will will­ing­ly sac­ri­fice her future hap­pi­ness to his own needs.

He insists that Loma accom­pa­ny him on impor­tant diplo­mat­ic and finan­cial mis­sions, but also depends on her to care for him in a frankly self­ish way.

Levine’s por­trait of Joseph is hon­est and sub­tle. Since she is female, how­ev­er, this qual­i­ty is prob­lem­at­ic. His attach­ment to his grand­daugh­ter is based on his recog­ni­tion of her intel­li­gence.

Loma’s ​ “Belo”(short for abue­lo, or grand­fa­ther), Joseph, is a com­mand­ing fig­ure accord­ing to the author’s note, he is based ​ “very loose­ly” on the famous Jew­ish schol­ar and com­mu­ni­ty leader Isaac Abra­vanel. Her own par­ents are lov­ing but imper­fect, and her old­er broth­er embod­ies some of the most neg­a­tive traits of an era when com­pro­mise and betray­al were com­mon. She’s eager to some­day be a wife and moth­er. Palo­ma ​ “Loma” Cor­cia is kind and affec­tion­ate towards her younger sib­lings, nieces, and nephews. Levine weaves a com­plex web of nar­ra­tive threads and places her char­ac­ters in sit­u­a­tions of moral and emo­tion­al ambiguity. Care­ful­ly researched and rich in his­tor­i­cal detail, the book cre­ates a full por­trait of the painful con­tra­dic­tions that defined the fif­teenth-cen­tu­ry Iber­ian Jew­ish world. Gail Car­son Levine’s new nov­el, A Ceil­ing Made of Eggshells, restores the dra­mat­ic real­i­ty of the time through the sto­ry of one Jew­ish girl and her fam­i­ly. Jew­ish life in Spain before the expul­sion of 1492 is some­times roman­ti­cized as a dis­tant and glo­ri­ous part of his­to­ry end­ing in tragedy.