The bridge in the jungle

Regarded by many as B. Traven's finest novel, The Bridge in the Jungle is a tale of a simple, desperately poor people coming together in the face of a death that affects them all. The locale is "huts by the river," a nameless Indian settlement deep in the Mexican bush, too small to appear on any map. A festive gathering that has attracted many Indians from neighboring settlements is about to begin, when death marches silently in. A small boy has disappeared.

As the intimation of tragedy spreads among the people gathered in the jungle clearing, they unite, first to find the lost boy and then to console the grieving mother. Traven never allows an iota of sentimentality to enter his story, but the reader finishes The Bridge in the Jungle with renewed faith in the courage and dignity of human beings.