THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY

In eighteenth-century Peru a historic bridge connecting the cities of Cuzco and Lima collapses plunging five people to their deaths. A Franciscan monk Brother Juniper witnesses the tragedy and embarks on a spiritual quest to reconcile free will versus fate and the existence of God in the victims’ lives: “Why did this happen to those five?” This thought-provoking Pulitzer Prize–winning second novel by American writer Thornton Wilder was called “a masterpiece” by The New York Times when it was published in 1927. Critically acclaimed it remains a compelling literary classic exploring destiny love religion and the meaning of life.