Palo Santo

Walter Cole, a Californian exile who dodged the draft in 1917, emerges from the thorn forest of Paraguay's Chaco Boreal. Long years of solitude have left him on the brink of physical and mental breakdown. He finds sanctuary among the pacifist Mennonites who settled the area in the 1920's, but soon they all become trapped by the Chaco War, a ghastly, fruitless conflict between Paraguay and Bolivia, and the foreign governments and oil companies who urge them on. Tormented by the cruel landscape, malarial fevers, doubt and anger, and unable to extricate himself from the momentum of the fighting, Walter meets people who are also struggling to stay alive and sane. They communicate in many languages - Spanish, English, Plautdietsch, Guarani, Aymara, Ayoreo, and Lengua - but all share the experience of being engulfed by powers beyond their understanding. Some mirror his bitterness, infuriated by the sheer callous idiocy of the war. Yet others, who have experienced depths of suffering that Walter has never known, react with a strength and human sympathy that bring him to his knees in shame. His only path to redemption becomes to escape from the fighting, and live.

Author: Felix Potter
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 08/03/2013
Pages: 312
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.01lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781479148714

About the Author
Felix Potter was born in Alta California in 1967. He studied history at the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Western Australia. Since then, he has spent most of his time wandering through South America, the Mediterranean, the South Pacific and Southeast Asia, working infrequently, surfing often, and writing whenever not overcome by his astounding laziness. He currently resides in a fishing village in Thailand.

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