Peru

The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder (1927). This classic, which won Wilder the first of three Pulitzers, takes us to Peru in the 18th century, where an Incan suspension bridge connecting Lima and Cuzco collapses, sending five people to their deaths. Witnessing the tragedy, a Franciscan monk sets out on a quest to prove that their deaths were the will of God. As he explores the intertwined lives of these seeming strangers, what emerges is a richly complex tale of love, faith, and mortality.

Cellophane, by Marie Arana (2006). Don Victor Sobrevilla's single-minded quest to manufacture cellophane in his paper factory in the heart of the Amazon rain forest leads to surprising family revelations in this exuberant first novel by a native of Peru and current editor of the Washington Post Book World.

The Last Days of the Incas, by Kim MacQuarrie (2007). How did a working-class Spaniard named Francisco Pizarro topple the vast empire of Incan Emperor Atahualpa with less than 200 men? With meticulous research and compelling storytelling, author and filmmaker MacQuarrie details conquistadors' strategies and how the Incas reacted to colonial rule.

The Lost City, by Henry Shukman (2008). With poetic precision, Shukman conjures the cloud forest to life, in this powerful novel about a young, British ex-soldier's search for an ancient ruined city in a little-explored region of the Peruvian highlands.