The Time of the Hero

The Nobel Prize–winning author's controversial debut novel exposes the brutal realities of life within a Peruvian military academy. At the Leoncio Prado Military Academy in Lima, Peru, four young cadets have joined forces in an effort to survive the myriad brutalities of their instructors and classmates. But soon this inner circle is pushed to its limits, setting off a chain of events that starts with a theft and leads to murder and suicide. When The Time of the Hero was first published in Peru in 1962, it was considered so scandalous that a thousand copies were burned in an official ceremony at the Leoncio Prado Military Academy.