This annotation was written in 2021 in response to the SAFFA Growing Library’s call for commentary on books in their collection:

I have two reasons for choosing this book – Flora Tristan sounds like an amazing and inspiring woman who I know almost nothing about. I have never read one of her books, and so it would be fascinating to get an insight into her way of thinking and addressing the world. Thank you for introducing her!

Secondly, I have long been interested in Latin America, having travelled through the south on incredibly long bus journeys – including the length of Chile and the altiplano of Bolivia as a student, in 1990. I did not visit Peru though since the Shining Path were very active then, and I haven’t been back since. I would like this story of a woman travelling through this landscape, encountering its layered cultural artefacts and customs in the moments after Independence from Spain. This would provide the foundation of my own fantasised journey to this country that I hope will soon become reality.