Literary works explore historical conquest and true crime

Recent literary releases explore historical brutality and true crime through distinct narrative lenses.

In “Lluvia de frailes en la selva,” published by Alfaguara, author Evelio Rosero utilizes a baroque and grotesque prose style to examine the conquest and the arrival of religion in the Amazon jungle. The novel references the year 1492 to anchor its exploration of the violence and savagery associated with the arrival of conquistadors and friars.

In “Puerto Hurraco. El espectáculo del horror,” published by Ediciones B, writer Luis Roso provides a detailed chronicle of the 1990 massacre in Puerto Hurraco, Spain. The work serves as both a reconstruction of the crime committed by the Izquierdo brothers and a critical analysis of how media sensationalism and yellow journalism treated the event during the emergence of private television networks.