What is the title of your latest release?
ISABELA’S WAY
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
ISABELA’S WAY is a coming-of-age tale, set during a dangerous time in early 17th century Portugal. A 14-year-old girl with a talent for needlework, believes she has nothing to fear from the Inquisition. But when a mysterious woman arrives with a message from Isabela’s traveling father, the girl must leave her home and embroider her way along the clandestine network of sanctuaries created to conduct Conversos, or secret Jews, to safety.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I was on a bicycle trip in Portugal when this 14-year-old embroideress popped into my head and demanded to be written about! I also knew that ancestors of mine came from Portugal and settled in Germany to escape the Inquisition.
Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
I would- I could see Isabela and I in a quiet sewing circle embroidering together. But the character I’d really like to hang out with is Ana Martel Gerondi, the herbal healer and dye maker who helps Isabela along her way and is a kind of spirit guide to her.
What are three words that describe your protagonist?
innocent, brave, resilient
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Half a century earlier than the time of ISABELA’S WAY there was a real person (Gracia Mendes Nasi) who did create a kind of “underground” escape route for Iberian Jews and Conversos through Spain, France and into Italy and Persia.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I edit all the time!
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I make a mean lemon meringue pie.. I also love sautéing up fresh lake perch.
Describe your writing space/office!
My favorite writing space is at our home in Northport, MI. I sit in a Stressless easy chair looking out onto Lake Michigan with a pillow on my lap and my laptop computer… or at the dining table with my laptop and a larger monitor, and the scroll with my characters and timelines rolled out on the table.
Who is an author you admire?
Barbara Kingsolver. I love the depth of her research, her unique stories and the beauty of her writing.
Is there a book that changed your life?
To Kill a Mockingbird.. It’s the first book that moved me and made me aware of how skilled a good writer had to be to produce a good story.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I met my publisher on a webinar about different publishing options. I knew right away I wanted to work with her, and after a follow-up phone call I submitted my manuscript and was very excited when it got accepted
What’s your favorite genre to read?
historical and literary fiction
What’s your favorite movie?
This is a little bit embarrassing… Pretty Woman!
What is your favorite season?
Fall
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Cross country skiing in northern Michigan
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Joyce Maynard’s How the Light Gets In, and The Antidote by Karen Russell
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Classic European and Thai
What do you do when you have free time?
Swim, bike, knit or read..
What can readers expect from you next?
Some short projects based on a family cookbook, and an archive of papers.
A Novel
For fans of Ruta Sepetys’s Salt to the Sea, this coming-of-age tale of one fourteen-year-old girl’s escape from early-seventeenth-century Portugal’s Inquisition, achieved with the help of a clandestine band of allies, will thrill and inspire.
In early-seventeenth-century Portugal, Spain, France, and Germany, dangers are plentiful—especially for those of Jewish heritage. Non-Catholics have been expelled from Spain, and the Inquisition has come to Portugal to impose its prohibitions. Fourteen-year-old Isabela, an obedient “New Christian” with a talent for needlework, believes she has nothing to fear from the Inquisition. But when a mysterious woman arrives with a message from Isabela’s traveling father, the girl must leave her home and embroider her way along the clandestine network of sanctuaries created to conduct Conversos, or secret Jews, to safety.
A host of supporters and spirit guides, as well as one special young man, assist Isabela as she escapes the Inquisitors and makes her way across countries and cultures. As she travels, she learns of the danger and importance of her work, with its coded symbols, and is shocked to discover her family’s true origins.
In this enthralling coming-of-age tale of resistance, love, and danger, Isabela employs her talent and fierce determination to find her way despite the powerful forces that buffet her at every turn.
Historical | Coming of Age [She Writes Press, On Sale: September 16, 2025, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781647429645 / eISBN: 9781647429652]
Barbara Stark-Nemon, author of the award-winning novels Even in Darkness, and Hard Cider, lives, writes, cycles, swims and gardens in Ann Arbor and Northport, Michigan. After a career as a speech-language therapist and English teacher working with deaf children, Barbara writes novels, essays, and short stories. Her third novel, Isabela’s Way will be published in September, 2025.
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