Reviewed by Saifunnissa Hassam for Readers' Favorite

Tim Schooley’s novel, The Wool Translator, is an interwoven coming-of-age story of two young savants and their forbidden romance, set in the chaos of war in Europe and England of the 1480s. The story includes fictional characters as well as reimagined historical figures with fictional dialogues, dramatization, places, and events. In 1481, Christopher Stoke, or Newt as his family nicknamed him, is a young English boy growing up in Stamford, England. His father, John Stoke, is a wool merchant and broker, shipping and trading in wool between England, Calais, Brittany, and Flanders. Newt is a child savant, showing an incredible gift for learning languages very quickly. His father takes him to Calais as an interpreter, and arranges for him to study in Nantes, Brittany, under a French tutor, Peter. Aisha is a young Muslim girl, growing up in Granada, in the Nasrid Kingdom in southern Spain. She is also a child savant, a genius in mathematics. Her father, Sawwaf, is a wealthy wool and silk trader. He arranges for Aisha to study in Nantes, under the same tutor. As they grow up, they fall in love. However, by 1485, the turmoil of war and power struggles in France, England, and Spain significantly impact the destiny of the two savants. The story’s drama and suspense continue to the very end.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Wool Translator for its remarkable characters and the vibrant atmospheric worldbuilding of England, Spain, and France in the 1480s. I particularly enjoyed the character development of Aisha and Newt and the vivid beginning with their childhood days. I think this provided a great introduction to the different religious beliefs, cultures, and traditions that the two savants grew up in. Newt is a Christian and Aisha is a Muslim. When their paths cross in Nantes, they are growing into maturity. I liked the way their forbidden romance unfolds. I think their tutor, Peter, also added great depth to the story. He knows his students have fallen in love. I liked how Peter stays loyal to both characters, his love and care for them going beyond his responsibilities as a tutor. The growing threat of war, death, and violence was very well developed and interwoven very effectively into the lives of both Aisha and Newt. Newt’s greatest challenges were when he became a translator for the English, French, Muslim, and Spanish nobility at different times. That made the story incredibly exciting and humorous at the same time. The narrative, the chaos of war, and the dialogues were very skillfully crafted, as Newt translates in circumstances of extreme danger, between people who don’t trust each other. I highly recommend Tim Schooley’s The Wool Translator for its great storytelling: a tale of forbidden love, war, and political intrigue.