Don Segundo Sombra

Efraín returns to his family’s estate in Colombia’s Cauca Valley and falls for his cousin María. The great romantic novel of Latin America.

Jorge Isaacs

A poet runs off with his lover into the Colombian plains and ends up lost in the rubber camps of the Amazon. Fierce, feverish and still shocking.

José Eustasio Rivera

A poor provincial student moves in with a rich family in Santiago and falls for the daughter of the house. The founding novel of Chilean realism.

Alberto Blest Gana

A young widow hides a wounded rebel in her Buenos Aires home during the Rosas dictatorship. Romance and political thriller in one, and Argentina’s first great novel.

José Mármol

In a small Andean town, a couple takes on the local priest and officials who exploit Indigenous families. A brave Peruvian novel that started a whole literary movement.

Clorinda Matto de Turner