The Purple Land is a romantic novel set in the wartorn borderlands of Uruguay, the Banda Oriental. The story of Richard Lamb, an idealistic young Englishman, it begins with his abduction of Paquita and their escape from the vengeance of her Argentine father. Finding refuge in Montevideo, he is catapulted into a series of picaresque adventures: horsestealing, duelling, escaping prison and fighting on the losing side of a civil war, all the while falling constantly and unsuitably in love.

'The Purple Land is a very sinister book if read too late in life. It recounts splendid imaginary amorous adventures of a perfect English gentleman in an intensely romantic land.' - Ernest Hemingway

'The best work of gaucho literature.' - Jorge Luis Borges