Journeys Into the New World

This novel is a modern retelling of Columbus's voyages.

The year is 1492, and the place is Spain. The Inquisition against the "marranos," i.e. converted Jews, is in full force, and Isabella and Fernandez have signed an Act of Expulsion of Jews. On the day the Act of Expulsion goes into effect, Columbus leaves Spain for the Indies to meet the fabled Khan described by Marco Polo in his "Travels," raising questions about his Jewish origin.

The de Avila family, three generations of "marranos" persecuted by the Inquisition, take part in Columbus's voyages and record his phenomenal rise, his downfall, and his ignominious death in the first three parts of the novel. They also give firsthand accounts of his shady origins, his rapacity for gold, his mendacity, and his savagery in decimating native populations. They vividly describe the wonders of the New World, and the treacherous voyages through the islands in search of the mythical Indies, unaware that an entire continent, new and unexplored, lay only a few knots away from them.

A different perspective of the events is given in the last part of the book which takes place during the 500th anniversary of the "Catholic discovery of America." Many want to canonize Isabella and Columbus whose names routinely top the most famous Catholics of all time, while others denigrate them as agents of evil bent on establishing Spain as a world power by the despoliation of newly found lands and the enslavement and decimation of their populations. Caught in the middle of this hurly-burly is Paul Henry, an easygoing "cafeteria Catholic" and accidental discoverer of the de Avila manuscripts. A militant rightwing group of Catholics, trying to wrest away the manuscript from him, do bodily harm to Paul and his radical wife Lucia, with a terrifying climax taking place at the Vatican on the day of announcement of the candidates for canonization.