The Sun Virgin

About the book

The expedition toward Peru begins amid complaints, financial calculation, official resistance, and the determination of men unwilling to abandon the promise of gold. Alonso de Molina supports the enterprise, while Teresa Espinosa's attachment to him connects personal desire to the risks and ambitions of conquest. As the narrative moves toward the world the invaders seek, romance and religious language coexist with coercion and the pursuit of empire. Dixon's 1929 historical novel dramatizes these events through strongly shaped character judgments rather than presenting a neutral documentary history. Its admiration for certain adventurers is part of the telling and invites attention to what that perspective emphasizes or minimizes. The resulting story places private commitments inside an enterprise whose consequences reach far beyond its participants' expectations.

• Conquest and ambition
• Romance and loyalty
• Wealth and power

Why read it

The opening's arguments over risk, authority, and investment expose the competing motives behind the expedition's heroic self-image.

English text of the Horace Liveright 1929 edition