The Moor's Account

By (author) Lalami, Laila
Description:

* 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.

Review quote:
An absorbing story . . . brilliantly imagined . . . feels very like the truth
Review quote:
The Moor’s Account is more than a good story, it’s a great one: rich, vivid and gripping
Biographical note:
Laila Lalami was born in Morocco. She the author of four novels, including The Moor’s Account, which won the American Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and The Other Americans, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her essays and criticism have appeared in The Nation, Harper’s, Washington Post, and New York Times. She has received fellowships from the British Council, the Fulbright Program, and the Guggenheim Foundation and is currently a professor of creative writing at the University of California at Riverside. She lives in Los Angeles.
Promotional headline:
A new edition of a masterful, multi-award-winning work of historical fiction that imagines the memoirs of the first black explorer of America
Feature:
TIMELESS AWARD-WINNER: First published in 2015, The Moor’s Account was met with astonishing reviews, establishing it as a masterwork of historical fiction to which readers will look for decades to come. Winner of the American Book Award, it was longlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Feature:
ACCLAIMED AUTHOR: One of the most important American writers at work today, Lalami''s fourth novel The Other Americans was published by Bloomsbury in 2019; the book received huge praise from readers including Elizabeth Gilbert, J. M. Coetzee, Viet Thanh Nguyen and John Boyne, and was an Observer, Literary Review and Time Book of the Year
Feature:
UNTOLD HISTORY: With a deft storyteller’s hand, Lalami brings to life the story of a man notably absent from the historical record. Exploring whose stories get told in the formation of history, her book is a remarkable contribution to a new literary canon for readers of Esi Edugyan''s Washington Black (over 46,000 copies TCM) and Sara Collins'''' The Confessions of Frannie Langton (over 49,000 copies TCM)