About the Book

“Gripping and passionate . . . keenly recounted . . . full of poetry.”—New York Times

Now in a beautiful new edition, the spellbinding classic tale of man and nature, honor, and adventure, in which the peaceful life of an aging, book-loving widower in the Ecuadorean jungle is upended when an ignorant tourist provokes a mother ocelot.

Antonio José Bolivar Proaño lives quietly in a river town in the rain-soaked jungle of Ecuador that is slowly being overrun by tourists and opportunists. Having lost his wife decades earlier, he takes refuge in books—paperback novels of faraway places and bittersweet love, delivered to him by the dentist who visits the village twice a year.

One day, a greedy trader pushes nature too far, setting an enraged mother ocelot on a bloody rampage through the village. The old man, a hunter who once lived among the Shuar Indians and knows the jungle better than anyone, is pressured by the village's detested mayor to join the expedition to kill the animal. Reluctantly. the old man is forced into the middle of a raging conflict between man and nature that will end in a powerfully climactic confrontation.

Critical Praise

“Magical . . . Readers will be enchanted.” — New York Times

“Sepulveda writes with a keen sense of irony and humor as harsh and colorful as the jungle itself.” — Raleigh News & Observer

“A seamless blend of simple story, mythic characters and artfully bold language.” — Memphis Commercial Appeal

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Product Details

• ISBN: 9780063349018
• ISBN 10: 0063349019
• Imprint: HarperVia
• On Sale: 03/19/2024
• Pages: 144
• List Price:19.99 CAD
• BISAC1 : FICTION / Nature & the Environment
• BISAC2 : FICTION / Hispanic & Latino
• BISAC3 : FICTION: World Literature / Chile
• BISAC4 : FICTION / Classics
• BISAC5 : FICTION / Action & Adventure

Other Works by Luis Sepúlveda

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  The Old Man Who Read Love Stories

  By Luis Sepúlveda

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