"The Loss of Paradise," the adventures of 39 men abandoned by Columbus in America

The adventures of the 39 sailors whom Christopher Columbus had to abandon in Hispaniola after his first expedition to America are the focus of the plot of The Loss of Paradise , the historical and adventure trilogy by Spaniard José Luis Muñoz , which is expected to premiere as a television series this year.

In an interview, the author explains that, with this work, he seeks to make readers empathize with men who set out for unknown territories more than five hundred years ago.

"Columbus's voyage was one of the most extraordinary adventures in human history because at that time there were no maps," Muñoz recalls.

Columbus, he continues, "was very adventurous," although he had some idea about the route to reach the mainland by crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

While other similar historical episodes such as the "conquest of the West" in the United States have been covered in film and literature on numerous occasions , Muñoz believes that everything related to the discovery and subsequent colonization of America "has been explored very little."

Precisely this lack of fiction about the adventures of the first explorers in America motivated the author to write the three novels that make up The Loss of Paradise.

The story focuses on what happened to the 39 sailors that Christopher Columbus had to abandon in Hispaniola (now Santo Domingo) after one of his three ships ran aground on the island, preventing him from returning to Spain with the entire crew that accompanied him on the outward journey.

These "not very well-known" facts , according to Muñoz, are narrated from the notes in Columbus's diaries and the author's imagination "because there are no documents of what happened to those 39 sailors," since when the navigator returned on his second voyage he found no survivors.

Muñoz made sure that all the characters that appear in the story were the real crew members of the expedition , articulating the plot around Martín de Urtubia, the voyage's scribe, and Juan de la Plaza, with opposing personalities but united by a "kind of friendship."

In addition to the story of the experiences of the men who accompanied Columbus on his "extraordinary error," the trilogy narrates the encounter between the expedition and the indigenous culture, "outside of what Europeans understood by civilization."

"Martín de Urtubia is fascinated by what he discovers, by the culture of these indigenous peoples and by the extraordinary, lush landscape," he explains, referring to the character who establishes a relationship with the native population and eventually assimilates into them.

The historical adventure narrated by Muñoz in his books has been adapted into the television series, The 39 , whose rights have been acquired by Spanish public television.

"There are six episodes that have already been made, the only thing missing is for Spanish Television to program it," the author points out.

A series featuring Spanish, Colombian, and Mexican actors , "very well-set and quite spectacular," according to Muñoz, who is excited because bringing a book to the screen: "It's a dream for any writer."