Columbus Conspiracy

A speculative historical thriller inspired by the contradictions around Columbus life. The "rags to riches" story of an inspired, brilliant but mercurial, obsessive and self-serving adventurer, capable of unspeakable atrocities, created a global myth that arouses contradictory reactions. However, the traditional schoolbook account of his life is ridden with mysteries, contradictions, forged documents and books with pages ripped off, all the ingredients of a plot that lasted five hundred years and only recently is being revealed for what it is: a fairy tale! The book combines a present day murder mystery with the power politics and religious quests of the 15th century, set against the background of the always extraordinary, sometimes gruesome Age of Discoveries. It is a mix of a detailed historical investigation and a speculative hypothesis to connect the loose ends of Columbus life: a tremendous secret, threatening enough to justify the deep political and religious conspiracy woven by kings and popes to silence Columbus' true identity and mission.An American PhD student is found death, bleeding from a suspicious pentagram-shaped cut in her wrist. She was in Lisbon doing research on Christopher Columbus. Thirteen years later, her twin sister (a disillusioned wall street banker struggling between the demands of her job and the pressure to have a baby) returns to Lisbon to retrace her steps, unaware she would face a complex web of crossed stories, ciphered messages and mistaken identities, a puzzle she will need to solve to uncover her sister's murder and Columbus tremendous secret: a forbidden Book kept hidden for 500-years. A passionate, fiery first-person account by Columbus up to his first expedition, as he looks forward to complete his mission, and the personal sacrifices he had to make (leaving behind the love of his life to assume a fake identity in Spain). The memories of his son Fernando, looking back with a tranquil, analytical view from the fourth expedition onward, describing vividly the amazement of the first contacts with new civilizations and the atrocities unleashed by the 'Conquistadores', as well as his father's own struggle: a humiliated, erratic, sick and hallucinating man with bouts of brilliance and sheer courage, striving to protect the secret Book from the claws of the Inquisition.