The Clown of Yungay

The mountain came down. The clown told them to run.

Yungay, Peru, May 31, 1970.

On a peaceful Sunday afternoon, hundreds of children gather to watch a circus performance. Then the earth begins to shake.

High above the town, an enormous section of Huascarán breaks loose. A wall of ice, rock, mud, and debris races down the mountain toward Yungay.

In the chaos, one man recognizes what is happening.

He is not a soldier.

He is not a policeman.

He is a clown.

Armando Peña Figueroa-known to the children as Cucharita-has spent his life making frightened children laugh. Now he must use everything he knows about children to make them listen when he tells them to run.

Up.

Away from the approaching avalanche.

Toward safety.

Approximately three hundred children will survive.

But surviving the disaster is only the beginning.

When Cucharita looks back toward the ruined town, he knows there are still people trapped below.

While others struggle to understand what has happened, the clown goes back.

Inspired by the extraordinary story of the 1970 Huascarán debris avalanche and the clown who helped save hundreds of children, The Clown of Yungay is a novel about courage, loss, responsibility, and the choice to help when helping may cost everything.

Sometimes courage wears a uniform.

Sometimes it wears a painted face.

And sometimes the person who saves the day is the person everyone expected to make them laugh.