Books Set in South America

Book Summary

Elena and Mauro have grown up in Bogotá, Colombia and their teenage love contrasts the brutality of life in their country at the turn of the millennium. Once they have a daughter, it becomes clear that they will have better economic prospects if they can make it to the United States.

They arrive in the US on tourist visa and work to send money back to Elena’s mom. When they don’t leave the county at the end of their visa, the growing family enters the precarious life of undocumented immigrants.

A second timeline follows their now 15-year-old daughter, Talia, as she breaks out of a nun-managed reform school in the Colombian mountains.

WARNING: This book contains scenes of sexual assault & animal abuse.

Book Summary

This split-timeline book tells the story of one family in both 1998 and the 1970s. Father Santiago Larrea is now a wealthy Argentine diplomat living in New York with his wife, Lila, and daughter, Paloma. Their life seems perfect until an unexpected party guest from Santiago’s past makes a comment that visibly shakes him. The cryptic comment makes college student Paloma curious about her father’s past in Argentina.

Paloma has the perfect opportunity to learn more when the family heads to Buenos Aires for Santiago’s UN ambassadorial appointment. She meets an Argentine student, Franco, who is an activist in a group for children of the Desaparecidos, those who were “disappeared” by the regime during Argentina’s “Dirty War” in the 70s. Paloma’s research not only leads her to question her own family and identity it also puts her life in danger.

Book Summary

This historical fiction tells the tale of a feminist icon and revolutionary who became on of the most revered figures in South American history. Anita Garibaldi was a force to be reckoned with.

She was forced into marriage at an early age, but everything changed when she met Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1839. After being swept into a passionate affair with the mercenary, her life became consumed with the plight to liberate Southern Brazil from Portugal. The struggle spanned more than 10 years and thousands of lives were lost.

But this was just the first taste of revolution for Anita. Over the course of her short life, she crossed oceans and traversed continents, impacting the course of the world.

Book Summary

Maia and her five sisters were all adopted as babies by their beloved father. Upon his death, all of the sisters gather together at their childhood home – a secluded castle on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Each woman is handed a letter with a clue about her true heritage, and Maia’s clue takes her across the world to another mansion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she’ll begin to assemble the pieces of her own story.

Maia’s Brazilian journey will lead her to the story of her great-grandmother, Izabela Bonifacio. Along the way, she’ll learn about the legend of Rio’s Christ the Redeemer – the 98-foot tall statue that towers over the city.

The story is told in a dual timeline between Maia’s present day, and the Golden Age of Rio in the 1920s, where Izabela Bonifacio’s father aspires to marry his daughter into the aristocratic class. But Izabela’s life is forever changed when she convinces her father to let her travel to Paris with famous architect Heitor de Silva Costa to join him in her search for the right sculptor to complete his vision for Christ the Redeemer.

Book Summary

In her early twenties, Laura lacked direction and decided to quit her job to embark on a backpacking trip in Bolivia. She found herself at a wildlife sanctuary on the edge of the Amazon jungle. It was filled with over a hundred lost and hurt animals and an equally complex cast of employees and volunteers. Laura was assigned to work with a puma named Wayra.

Set against the backdrop of deforestation, the illegal pet trade, and forest fires, this memoir explores what happens when two creatures needing rescue find one another.

Book Summary

Orly’s father plays viola in the Philharmonic, her mother is an opera singer, and she lives a peaceful, music-filled life in Vienna. However, it’s the 1930s, and Hitler is rising to power in Germany. As part of a Jewish family, she’s aware enough of his threat to dream up imaginary worlds with her best friend but has no idea how bad things will get.

Then, in 1938, the Germans arrived. Orly’s family is lucky enough to secure a refugee visa to take them to a totally new world – the Bolivian Andes. As the town of La Paz, Bolivia, grows with fellow refugees, Orly’s family tries to adapt to life in the mountains, even as they dwell on the music careers, family, and friends they were forced to leave behind.

Book Summary

Mark Adams spent his entire career editing adventure travel magazines, but he had never done anything adventurous. That is, until he decided to recreate a controversial 1911 expedition to Machu Picchu.

In 1911, a young Yale professor named Hiram Bingham III climbed into the Andes Mountains of Peru and “discovered” an ancient city in the clouds – what we now know as Machu Picchu. Of course, this Incan citadel had long been known to the villagers of this region (the ones who showed Bingham the way), but its discovery was officially credited to him when he cabled the United States to report his archaeological finding. Despite finding something that was never lost, Bingham turned the world’s attention to Machu Picchu and Incan history and helped inspire the Indiana Jones stories. But Bingham’s legacy is also shadowed by allegations that he stole historical artifacts.

Fast forward a century to 2011, Mark Adams decided to find out the truth about Bingham’s discovery for himself. The not-so-adventurous adventure writer set out to retrace the famous explorer’s steps through the Andes and to write about Bingham’s work, 500 years of Incan history, and his own experiences along the way.

Book Summary

Winnie lives a privileged life on her father’s sugar cane plantation in British Guiana on the northeastern coast of South America. Life is very easy when Winnie follows society’s rules. However, she can’t help falling in love with George, the black post-office boy from the other side of town.

Winnie begins living a double life and then fights to prove her love for George in a world determined to keep them apart.

Book Summary

This book is told in the form of a letter written by 100-year-old Violeta as she reflects back on her life and the tragedies she overcame. Violeta was born in 1920, as the world was trying to recover from World War I, and just as the Spanish Flu began to take hold in South America. But that won’t be the only pandemic she encounters during her long life.

From the Great Depression to the fight for women’s rights and from drug cartels to lovers, this fictional but raw book looks into all aspects of Violeta’s lifetime.

Book Summary

Set in a desolate and impoverished Bolivian silver mining community, this middle-grade fiction tells the story of twelve-year-old girl named Ana. She bravely volunteers to take her eleven-year-old brother’s place when their father demands that he begin working in the silver mines despite his illness.

Ana gives up her dreams of school and a future outside the mining village to protect her brother from the dark and dangerous mines, but the men who work there see her as a girl who is just in their way. When a tragic accident happens, Ana mustered the courage to survive and find a way to save her family.

Book Summary

This compelling travel memoir takes you along the author’s 5,500 miles journey down the Andes Mountain range from Boliva to the bottom of Argentina. The author, Anna, made the trek with her friend, Faye. During the ride, they ascended over 100,000 meters through the mighty Andes – equivalent to 11 times the height of Everest.

They rode through dense jungle, across pristine white salt flats, and past towering volcanoes, following the path of thundering glacial rivers to the snow-tipped peaks of Patagonia. The writing is entertaining and funny as Anna shares the highs and lows of this once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

Book Summary

This dream-like novel goes back and forth in time from Montoya family matriarch Orquídea’s fascinating, yet difficult, past to the present day in which she is dying and has called her four descendants home to receive their inheritance.

None of the descendants know why Orquídea refused to ever leave her home in Four Rivers, so when they’re called home, they hope to leave with answers. Seven years in the future, you’ll see how Orquídea’s deathbed gifts have granted blessings. However, a hidden figure is in the backyard trying to destroy everyone in Orquídea’s family line. To save what remains of their family, four descendants travel to Ecuador to find Orquídea’s buried secrets.

Book Summary

It’s the 1940s, and Euridice has a typical life of a woman from that era. She is expected to be an obedient and traditional housewife. While passionate about cooking and sewing, her dreams go far beyond caring for her family. She starts several secret projects, like making recipe books, as she tries to make a business for herself. However, her husband forbids her from using her talents. On top of that, a gossipy neighbor is spreading rumors about Euridice.

Her sister, Guida, also has challenges despite escaping her family’s expectations and eloping with a medical student years earlier. Suffering and pain eventually cause her to return home with her young son. Euridice takes them in, and together, the sisters learn to be independent and make the most of their lives.

Book Summary

The Santiago sisters lead carefree lives in a gated community in Bogotá – a protective bubble that shields them from the political upheaval and violence terrorizing the country in the 1990s. Outside of their neighborhood walls, the world looks very different, including the constant threat of kidnappings, car bombs, and assassinations.

When Chula and Cassandra’s mom hires a live-in-maid from Bogotá’s guerrilla-occupied slum, seven-year-old Chula is eager to understand more about Petrona’s world. The story is told from the alternating perspectives of Chula and Petrona, providing two very different coming-of-age stories that become inextricably linked. As each girl’s family struggles to maintain stability amidst escalating conflict, they will be forced to choose between sacrifice and betrayal.

Book Summary

While this book is a work of fiction, it’s largely based on the life of co-author Maria Virginia Farinango. She was born and raised in an earthen-walled dwelling within her Indigenous community in Ecuador. At only 7 years old, in the early 1980s, she was taken to work full-time as a house servant for a member of the ruling class – those who descended from Spain. 

For most children of similar misfortune, their life is defined at that moment, and they are destined for a life of excessive work and abuse. But Virginia wanted more. Like Malala and Adunni in Girl with the Louding Voice, Virginia knows education is the answer. But how will she get from her dream to the new reality she desires? 

Book Summary

Initially published in 1968, this autobiography is a stunning non-fiction* tale of prison escape. In 1931, Henri Charrière was convicted of a murder he didn’t commit in Paris. He was sentenced to the French penal colony of French Guiana in South America.

He became obsessed with escaping, but despite much scheming and bravery, he had many failed attempts. Henri was sent to an even more secure location, Devil’s Island, to further deter his efforts. No one had ever successfully escaped Devil’s Island, but that didn’t impact his overwhelming desire to set himself free.

Book Summary

In 1977, Uraguay was under a dictatorship and militarized government. Homosexuality was brutally punished. Cantoras is the intertwining story of five women – Romina, Flaca, Anita “La Venus,” Paz, and Malena – who find respite in each other as they try to live as their authentic selves. They form a deep bond after finding a nearly uninhabited cape, Cabo Polonio, where they can have sanctuary from the harsh world. 

The novel follows the women and examines the concept of family over 35 years as they find both struggle and triumph. Readers describe the book as both heartwarming and heartwrenching, with overwhelming mentions of it being an amazing and emotional read.

Book Summary

David Attenborough is often regarded as “the greatest living advocate of the global ecosystem.” In this memoir, he tells the stories of his voyages that started it all.

In 1954, David, then a young television presenter, was offered the opportunity of a lifetime! He was asked to travel the world finding rare and elusive animals for London Zoo and to film the expeditions for the BBC. He searched for giant anteaters in Guyana, armadillos in Paraguay, and Komodo dragons in Indonesia.

While trekking treacherous terrain and braving unpredictable weather, he battled cannibal fish, aggressive tree porcupines, and escape-artist wild pigs. All along the way, he managed to record the incredible beauty and biodiversity of these regions.

Book Summary

Written by a native of Brazil and a prize-winning journalist, this engaging non-fiction looks back at a city filled with unfortunate poverty and corruption as it prepared to host huge international events – the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. 

While the book robustly covers the problems that plagued the city and the background that set the stage for them, it also focuses on the wide range of people dedicated to helping Rio de Janeiro achieve its potential. 

Book Summary

In this Own Voices YA novel, Camila is an Argentinian teenager with a passion for soccer and the talent and skill to go far in the sport, but her parents don’t know anything about it. At home, Camila lives in the shadow of her rising soccer star brother and constantly strives to be a model daughter. She does her best to meet her mother’s expectations and avoid upsetting her abusive and short-tempered father.

When her team qualifies for a major South American soccer tournament, Camila dreams her talents will earn a scholarship to a North American university. But her parents wouldn’t knowingly allow a girl to play fútbol, and she can’t play in the tournament without their permission. Then, to complicate things, the boy Camila once loved (who has become an international soccer player in Italy) is back in town.

Camila will be forced to face her secrets as she tries to make her way in a world that doesn’t value her dreams and ambitions.

Book Summary

Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana make up 900 miles of rugged coastline tucked between Venezuela and Brazil in northeastern South America. Much of the region is still unexplored, with a lack of roads and frequent border disputes. Author John Gimlette spent three months on an expedition into the jungles and swamps of the countries.

Despite being relatively unknown, all three countries have a fascinating and international history with descendants of African slaves, Dutch conquerors, Hmong refugees, Irish adventurers, and Scottish outlaws. Wild Coasts explores the region’s history and current state through the author’s travels.

You’ll also learn about the Jonestown Massacre, which took place in Guyana.

Book Summary

Perla Correa is a young woman who grew up as an only child in a privileged Buenos Aires family. Argentina was still reeling from the military dictatorship of the 1970s and 80s, and the war in which thirty thousand people simply “disappeared.”

Perla understands that her polished mother and a straitlaced naval officer father were on the wrong side of the conflict, but when ghosts of the past open her eyes to her beloved father’s role in the heinous war crimes, she is forced to question everything.

Book Summary

In 1972, a plane carrying a rugby team from Uruguay crashed in the Andes mountains of Argentina. For the next 72 days, the teammates suffered a harrowing endurance test. Among the survivors was a young architect named Eduardo Strauch.

Four decades after the tragedy, a climber discovered Strauch’s wallet near the memorialized crash site and returned it to him. That gesture compelled Strauch to finally break his silence and write this memoir about the life-changing events that tested him physically and emotionally.