First published 2021
Freydis leads her Viking warriors south through uncharted lands, trading with local tribes before vanishing somewhere near Panama. Five centuries later, Christopher Columbus sails toward the Americas dreaming of gold, but Inca captors seize him and his crew instead. Columbus suffers in captivity while clinging to his belief in European superiority. Thirty years pass before Atahualpa, the final Inca emperor, commandeers Columbus's vessels and sails to Europe. He discovers a fractured continent torn by religious wars, dynastic conflicts, and the Spanish Inquisition. Luther's Reformation divides Christians while monarchs wage endless battles and Turkish armies threaten from the east. The downtrodden masses hunger for change. Atahualpa studies Machiavelli's The Prince as his manual for seizing control. Armed with this knowledge of European power dynamics, he prepares to establish Inca and Aztec rule over the continent that once sought to conquer his people.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, political-thriller, alternate-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: alternate-history, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Americas, Europe, Inca, Panama, Spanish Inquisition, Turkey
Period: 15th Century, 16th Century
320 pages · ebook · Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Content warnings: colonialism