Legacy of Terror

About the Book

In 1979, a young German woman goes in search of her fiancé, a young anthropologist studying the ruins of the Inca empire. She travels to Peru looking for him among the mysterious valleys and pueblos of the Andes. In the course of her adventures, she becomes involved in social struggles and romance with a young Peruvian mestizo, and her life is changed dramatically by events that took place during the horrors unleashed by the communist revolutionaries known as Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path). Her life becomes connected to the lives of many others through the shared suffering and the consequences of a period of terrorism that paralyzed all of Peru, among these a young North American philanthropist and a female television reporter in Lima, who help her bring her life into balance after such events. She returns to Germany to raise two boys, one her own and the other an adopted son, who returns as an adult to seek his Peruvian roots. In his quest, he discovers surprising changes, consequences of the war of terror between the guerrillas of the Shining Path and the Peruvian Army that left traces on so many innocent children.

About the Author

José E. Vertiz, who goes by Tito, is a Peruvian writer. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska and continued his postgraduate studies at the University of Florida. He began to write after retiring from the State of Florida, where he worked as a mental health therapist in the prison system. Prior to Legacy of Terror, he has published two other books in the United States: Salvar un Alma (translated in English as Saving a Soul) and Carrusel Familiar. He considers the present work to be his best novel to date. Tito also enjoys painting with oils. Several of his paintings have been exhibited in various places, both in the United States and in Peru. He currently resides near the Port of Callao, Peru, where he continues to write and paint.