Charles Cherry

And Paradise Far Away Charles Cherry

Leo Keating has been exiled by an American corporation to the capital city of a second-rate South American country ruled by a rapacious junta known as the Blues. Despite a good marriage, he engages "only for a while", in an affair with Claudine, the abandoned wife of an insurgent. When Colonel Pascal, a Blue who has been pressuring Leo for tribute, discovers the affair, he threatens exposure to Leo's wife. Leo responds by arranging to send his family back to the States, with intention to follow but only after extending still his indulgence with Claudine. Pascal learns of the prospective loss of leverage and attempts to stop the plane's takeoff, causing an accident in which Leo's entire family is killed. Distraught and guilt ridden, Leo seeks revenge and expiation in joining the insurgents and embarking on an arduous path of physical and moral testing.