Dianne's Reviews > The Moor's Account

Very interesting and well done historical fiction account of the Spanish Narváez expedition of 1527 that was sent to colonize Florida. Upon sailing into the Tampa area, Narváez (the commander of the armada) split his contingent in two, with half staying in the gulf with the ships and the other half heading north on foot to look for a rich kingdom called Apalache, which supposedly had great quantities of gold and other precious metals. 300 officers, soldiers, friars and settlers set off, only to become lost and permanently separated from the ships that bore them. Over 8 years, the 300 dwindled to 4 through famine, disease, battles with indigenous Indian tribes, enslavement, alligators, and cannibalism. In the course of those 8 years, the 4 survivors - Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, and his enslaved Moor Estebanico – traveled mostly on foot from Tampa, Florida to Mexico City.

Cabeza de Vaca’s 1542 written account of this ordeal (the first written account of North America) make up the bones of Lalami’s story. Her narrator is the Moor slave, Mustafa, renamed Estebanico by his master, Dorantes. Mustafa weaves the fictional story of his life and how he came to become enslaved with the story of the ill-fated expedition. It’s absolutely fascinating. The very best books are the ones that make the past bloom into vivid life and transport you to a lost place and time. I loved learning about the culture and lifestyles of the various southern American and Mexican Indian tribes. And the treachery and callousness of humans - Castillians and Indians alike – will make you shake your head with despair.

This book was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for fiction in 2015. I loved it and highly recommend it. It’s not an “easy read” – lots of detail and people to keep track of - but an amazing story.