Leo Africanus

From Publishers Weekly Through the adventures of a wise, courageous traveler, this excellent historical novel re-creates the era when the Moors were expelled from Spain, and much of North Africa and southern Europe was in turmoil. Hassan al-Wazzan was just a child the year Columbus sailed to the New World, and quarreling among Moslems led to their surrender of Granada to Catholic King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. The gradual exile of Hassan's family from Spain is developed through recollections of his proud, erring father, his badly treated mother and her diplomat brother. As a merchant and emissary, Hassan travels from Fez to Cairo to Mecca andby misadventureto Rome and the Vatican, where he is later renamed Leo Africanus. The changes in his fortunes and family reflect shifts in the political realities of the late 14th and 15th centuries. Chronicling Hassan's political and personal lifeincluding the continuing conflict between the secular and religiousMaalouf offers a lurid history lesson in this sweeping, sympathetic portrayal of Islamic culture of the period. Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Written in the form of a memoir, this historical novel explores the meeting of two worldsIslam and Christendomthrough the adventures of real-life Arab traveler and geographer Hassan al-Wazzan. Born in Spain just as the Moors were expelled in 1492, Hassan grows up in North Africa and as a young man crosses the Sahara to Timbuctu, eventually reaching Cairo on the eve of its conquest by the Ottomans. In the last of his sojourns recounted by Maalouf, Hassan arrives in the Rome of Pope Leo X, who christens him Leo Africanus. Chronicling the loves and adventures of his wandering protagonist, the author deftly weaves into Hassan's account a score of the traveler's more famous contemporaries, including Columbus, the Medicis, Martin Luther, and Suleiman the Magnificent. Enjoyable reading for general readers. L.M. Lewis, Eastern Kentucky Univ., RichmondCopyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. Amin Maalouf has written seven novels, including The Gardens of Light , Leo Africanus , and The Rock of Tanios , which won the Goncourt Prize in 1993. He is the former director of the leading Beirut newspaper an-Nahar . He lives in Paris. Read more