* Winner of the American Book Award * Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2015 * A Finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction *
'An absorbing story' SALMAN RUSHDIE 'Rich, vivid and gripping' GUARDIAN 'Feels at once historical and contemporary' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
In 1527, hundreds of settlers arrived on the coast of modern-day Florida and claimed the region for Spain. Within a year of navigational errors, disease, starvation and fierce resistance from indigenous tribes, only four survivors remained. Three were nobleman, whose stories found their way into the official record. The fourth was known only as Estebanico, a vibrant merchant from Barbary forced into slavery and a new name, reborn as the first African explorer of the Americas.
This is his story: a journey across the great swathes of the New World, where would-be conquerors are transformed into humble servants, fearful outcasts into healers, and the silenced into storytellers.
'An absorbing story - brilliantly imagined - feels very like the truth.' Salman Rushdie
'Extraordinary - demonstrates the full might of Lalami's talent as a writer.' Aminatta Forna
'Tremendous - one of the finest historical novels I've encountered. It rings with thunder!' Gary Shteyngart
'An exciting tale of wild hopes, divided loyalties, and highly precarious fortunes.' The New Yorker
Author
About Laila Lalami
Laila Lalami is the author of two other novels, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits and Secret Son, longlisted for the Orange Prize. Her essays and opinion pieces have appeared in The Guardian and The New York Times, among other publications. She is the recipient of a British Council Fellowship, and is currently an associate professor of creative writing at the University of California at Riverside.
