The Purple Land tells the story of Richard Lamb, an idealistic young Englishman, who spirits his new wife, Paquita, to Montevideo to escape the vengeance of her Argentine father. Here, he is catapulted into a series of picaresque adventures: horse-stealing, duelling, imprisonment and fighting on the losing side of a civil war, all the while falling serially and unsuitably in love.

Rooted in Hudson's evocation of the simplicity and dignity of life on the pampas and his masterful depiction of its wildlife and landscape, The Purple Land is the first modern 'road novel'. It is also a narrative of transformation, the Creolisation of an Englishman, redeemed by the heightened exuberance, energy and warmth of South America.