The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Thornton Wilder, Amy Drevenstedt
Paperback
(Kessinger Pub Co, April 30, 2005)
1928. Wilder's second novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey won the 1928 Pulitzer Prize. The book begins with the collapse of the finest bridge in all Peru and the deaths of five people. Brother Juniper, a Franciscan missionary, who witnesses the tragedy, asks Why did these five die? To explain Divine Providence, he sets out to interpret the lives of the five victims and to understand why they died. At the end, his writings are considered heretical and both Juniper and his work are burned by the Inquisition. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.