La Florida

Swashbuckling Pedro Menéndez and his explorers reached South Florida hoping to find gold and silver. They'd also make Christians of docile natives, who would happily mine ore and raise crops for the tables of Europe. Instead, they confronted a fearsome confederation of tribes that had been a nation for longer than Spain itself.

An epic story, true to actual dates and events. But it's told through the life of a Calusa Indian boy, from gathering fibers and berries for his single mother to his crucial role in the court of a cruel despot. It also follows the ambitious Menéndez as he persuades a reluctant Spanish king to finance The Enterprise of Florida, then struggles to sustain a chain of forts along its coasts. And scarcely a day passes without clashes of culture, religion, and weapons between two proud peoples. Yes, there's a "winner," but few heroes.

NOTE: La Florida is a revised, paperback edition of the book, The Cross and the Mask, which won the Florida Historical Society's Patrick Smith Award in 2014 for best adult fiction.