Spirit of the Condor: A Novel of Peru(Book I)is the epic fact-based historical saga of the Liberator, Simon Bolivar, who liberated the Americas from the Spanish colonialists, creating the Republic of Gran Colombia, encompassing the three republics of Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama, with the grandiose vision of ultimately forming a United States of South America. Manuela Saenz was the spirited lover and mistress, who became known as the Libertadora of the Liberator, and whose vision it was to do anything and everything to help Bolivar attain his great aspiration of a united Latin continent. This is their story--a love story and the most enthralling romantic adventure of the early nineteenth century. It's told in retrospect once Manuela is discovered at 44 in exile in the seaport of Paita, Peru, in November 1841, by a young Herman Melville of Moby Dick fame--five years before he would publish his first successful book, Typee(1846)--who ingratiates himself so that she might recount to him her life with the Liberator. Recount it she does--from the two assassination attempts she saved Bolivar from to their final and most sorrowful parting. Ultimately, Manuela reveals to Melville the mysterious but profound secret of the...SPIRIT OF THE CONDOR!