The Moor's Account: A Novel

PULITZER PRIZE FINALISTA New York Times Notable BookA Wall Street Journal Top Book of the YearAn NPR Great Read of A Kirkus Best Fiction Book of the YearIn this stunning work of historical fiction Laila Lalami brings us the imagined memoirs of the first black explorer of Americamdasha Moroccan slave whose testimony was left out of the official recordIn the conquistador Paacutenfilo de Narvaacuteez sailed from the port of Sanluacutecar de Barrameda with a crew of six hundred men and nearly a hundred horses His goal was to claim what is now the Gulf Coast of the United States for the Spanish crown and in the process become as wealthy and famous as Hernaacuten CorteacutesBut from the moment the Narvaacuteez expedition landed in Florida it faced perilmdashnavigational errors disease starvation as well as resistance from indigenous tribes Within a year there were only four survivors the expeditionrsquos treasurer Aacutelvar Nuacutentildeez Cabeza de Vaca a Spanish nobleman named Alonso del Castillo Maldonado a young explorer named Andreacutes Dorantes de Carranza and Dorantesrsquos Moroccan slave Mustafa al-Zamori whom the three Spaniards called Estebanico These four survivors would go on to make a journey across America that would transform them from proud conquis-tadores to humble servants from fearful outcasts to faith healersThe Moorrsquos Accountbrilliantly captures Estebanicorsquos voice and vision giving us an alternate narrative for this famed expedition As the dramatic chronicle unfolds we come to understand that contrary to popular belief black men played a significant part in New World exploration and Native American men and women were not merely silent witnesses to it In Laila Lalamirsquos deft hands Estebanicorsquos memoir illuminates the ways in which stories can transmigrate into history even as storytelling can offer a chance for redemption and survivalFrom the Hardcover edition.