Full Circle: A South American Journey

From the Lonely Planet Journeys series.

'Full Circle' describes "a journey without a fixed itinerary" into the heart of South America. Exiled Chilean writer Luis Sepulveda paints vivid, sometimes surreal pictures of a continent where the distinction between reality and fiction is often blurred.

Whether he is travelling in Patagonia, washed up in a sleepy tropical town, or retracing the path that led him to a political prison, Sepulveda conjures up extravagant characters in extraordinary situations: gauchos organising a tournament of lies, a scheming heiress on the lookout for a husband, a pilot flying an influential corpse to its funeral . . . finally, the author honours a promise made to his grandfather - and like all great journeys of self-discovery, his travels bring him full circle to the place where it all began.

Winner of the 1996 Astrolabe - Etonnants Voyagers award for the best work of travel literature published in France.