Mercedes of Castile

by James Fenimore Cooper

First published 1840

Amazon

3.4(35)

At the court of Ferdinand and Isabella, Christopher Columbus struggles to secure royal support for a westward voyage to Asia while fictional young courtiers are caught in the ambitions and uncertainties surrounding his project. The preparations connect court patronage, dynastic politics and private romance to a venture whose success depends on ships, credit and the willingness of sailors to cross an ocean without a known route home.

The voyage of 1492 forms the novel’s historical centre, from departure through the long Atlantic crossing to the Caribbean landfall that Europeans interpreted as the approaches to Asia. Cooper presents Columbus as visionary, obstinate and dependent on political favour, while the fictional plot gives the reader a personal route through the anxieties of a journey that transformed Atlantic history.