Blood for Pearls - 1498-The First American Genocide

2025 Kindle Book Awards Semi-Finalist

De: Peter Von Perle

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

2025 Kindle Book Review Awards Semifinalist — Literary Fiction

A Legacy Written in Blood and Pearls…

Blood for Pearls: 1498 – The First American Genocide is a powerful, emotionally searing historical novel based on real events that forever changed the Americas. Set during the third voyage of Christopher Columbus, this epic tale explores the brutal birth of the pearl trade in the Caribbean and the catastrophic consequences for the Indigenous and African peoples of the New World.

In 1498, Columbus arrives on the fabled Pearl Coast—what is now Venezuela—and discovers the tiny island of Cubagua, glistening with untold riches beneath the sea. But behind the iridescent beauty of its pearls lies a dark and violent truth: enslavement, exploitation, and the first genocide in the Americas.

At the heart of this gripping narrative are two unforgettable protagonists:

• Charaima, a brave and determined Indigenous boy torn from his homeland and forced to labor for his captors.
• Dembe, a resilient West African warrior sold into slavery and cast into the cruel world of pearl diving.

On the island known as Rich Island, their destinies collide amidst colonial cruelty, the rise of the slave trade, and the collapse of ancient cultures. Together, they forge a bond of hope, love, and rebellion against a system built on greed and destruction.

This meticulously researched historical fiction novel blends archival sources, archaeological findings, and oral histories to reveal the lost story of the Spanish conquest, the beginnings of the transatlantic slave trade, and the true cost of wealth in the Age of Exploration.

If you enjoyed books like Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier, or The Book of Night Women by Marlon James, this novel will captivate you with its brutal honesty, poetic language, and historical depth.

What You'll Find Inside:

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• A vividly detailed depiction of Spanish colonialism and Caribbean indigenous resistance
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• Emotionally driven storytelling about slavery, resilience, and forbidden love
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• Available in Kindle eBook, Paperback, Hardcover, and Audible Audiobook
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• FREE on Kindle Unlimited
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"A haunting and necessary story about the forgotten massacre of the Pearl Coast. This is not the history you learned in school—it’s the truth you were never told."