Guerrero

Celebrated Spanish writer José Ángel Mañas makes his English-language debut with Guerrero, a novel based on real-life Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Guerrero, who defied Cortez and fought against Spain with his adopted Mayan tribe.

January 1512. A caravel filled with a cargo of gold and Indian slaves sinks in a fierce storm. A small boatload of survivors including Gonzalo Guerrero wash up on a beach in Yucatán, near death. Immediately captured by Cocome Mayans, some are sacrificed; the rest are enslaved. Two survive: the young priest Jerónimo de Aguilar and the seasoned soldier, Guerrero. They are redeemed by the rival and more sympathetic Tutul Xiúe Mayans. Jerónimo clings to his prayerbook, while Gonzalo becomes fascinated with Mayan culture and religion, eventually joining with his new Mayan family to fight against Spanish conquest. For his crime, he has been wiped from the record books of colonial Spain. Though little is known of the historical Guerrero today, in this masterful short novel he becomes a larger-than-life figure of resistance and honor.