Thornton Wilder

The Bridge of San Luis Rey is a 1927 novel by American author Thornton Wilder. It tells the story of several unrelated people who happen to be on a bridge in Peru when it collapses, killing them. A friar who has witnessed the tragic accident then goes about inquiring into the lives of the victims, seeking some sort of cosmic answer to the question of why each had to die. Philosophically, the book explores the problem of evil, or the question of why unfortunate events occur to people who seem "innocent" or "undeserving".