Between Inca Walls: A Peace Corps Memoir

At twenty-one, Evelyn is naïve about life and love. Raised in a small Montana town, she moves at age sixteen with her devout Catholic family to California. There, she is drawn to Latino culture when she works among the migrant workers. During the summer of her junior year in college, Evelyn travels to a small Mexican town to help set up a school and a library--an experience that whets her appetite for a life full of both purpose and adventure.

After graduation, Evelyn joins the Peace Corps and is sent to perform community development work in a small mountain town in the Andes of Perú. There, she and her roommate, Marie, search for meaningful projects and adjust to living with few amenities. Over the course of eighteen months, the two young women work in a hospital, start 4-H clubs, attend campesino meetings, and teach PE in a school with dirt floors. Evelyn is chosen queen of the local boys' high school and--despite her resolve to resist such temptations--falls in love with a university student. As she comes of age, Evelyn learns about life and love the hard way when she must choose between following the religious rules of her youth and giving in to her sexual desires.

Author: Evelyn Kohl Latorre
Publisher: She Writes Press
Published: 08/11/2020
Pages: 328
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.50w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9781631527173


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 01/01/0001

About the Author
Latorre, Evelyn Kohl: - Evelyn Kohl LaTorre grew up in rural Southeastern Montana, surrounded by sheep and cattle ranches, before coming to California with her family at age sixteen. She holds a doctorate in multicultural education from the University of San Francisco, and a master's degree in social welfare from UC Berkeley. She worked as a bilingual school psychologist and school administrator in public education until her retirement. Evelyn loves to travel; to date, she and her husband have traveled to some 100 countries. You can view her stories and photos on her website, www.evelynlatorre.com. Her writing has appeared in World View Magazine, The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, the California Writers Club Literary Review, the Tri-City Voice, Dispatches, and Clever Magazine. She is currently completing a second book about the struggles and triumphs of a bicultural marriage in the US. Evelyn lives in Fremont, California.