HomeHistorical FictionThe Bridge of San Luis Rey

Cover of The Bridge of San Luis Rey

Historical Fiction · 1927 · G

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

by Thornton Wilder

Five people die when a bridge collapses in Peru — and a friar spends his life asking why

ForAll agesGenreHistorical FictionLength116 pagesRead time~3 hours

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What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.

Violence

Barely any

A bridge collapse resulting in deaths; some historical period violence

Language

None

No profanity

Sexual Content

Barely any

Brief romantic content

Substance Use

None

No substance use

Emotional Intensity

Some

Moderate philosophical depth: the central question of divine providence and what our lives mean creates gentle but genuine intellectual and emotional engagement

What this book is about

When an ancient rope bridge in colonial Peru collapses in 1714, killing five people, a Franciscan friar undertakes an exhaustive investigation to discover whether Providence had a reason for choosing these particular five. Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning novella traces the five lives before the collapse in prose of luminous clarity, asking whether love is the final meaning we can ascribe to any human life.

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Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.

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