The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami

The Moor's Account

Laila Lalami

Blood, rape and suffering followed the Spaniards into the New World. See their doomed search for gold through the eyes of a Muslim slave. What makes his story so poignant is the fact that he blames himself for his own fate, unlike the Catholics who trust to God's absolution. A sobering account of man's inhumanity to man... but such a great read.

Extract
How strange I must have seemed to them: not a conqueror, but the slave of a conqueror, who had brought them the small comfort of a little food. Perhaps this led them to think of me as a good man. But these prisoners did not know, and I could not explain to them, that I had once traded in slaves. I had sent three men into a life of bondage, without pausing to consider my role in this evil. Now that I had become a slave myself, it shamed me that, even without meaning to, I still caused the suffering of others.
Parallels
  • English Passengers by Matthew Kneale
  • Night of Sorrows by Frances Sherwood
  • Tlaloc Weeps for Mexico by Laszlo Passuth
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Violence
Explicit sexual Content