A story of the Andes, not in the usual vein of ""family novels"" for in its pages hatred and rebellions and propitiation and greed and hypocrisy and selfishness are the emotional ingredients, heightened and obliterated by the country against which they are played out. An excellent job of perception in a story of John Guilder's acquisitiveness , greed and arrogance. The period is the early 1900's -- and the story tells of the life of the Guilder family, in all its complexities, against the setting of many acres of fruitful land in the valley of the Andes. Better than average first novel. Watch her.