Alfredo Bryce Echenique is one of the most widely-read and most widely translated Latin American authors of recent decades, yet this is the first critical edition that makes his work available to students of Hispanic literatures in the English-speaking world. Combining humour and informal language to explore adolescence in middle-class Peru, this edition provides ready points of engagement for young (and not-so-young) adults. The stories and main themes are explained and analysed through a critical introduction, comprehensive notes and vocabulary prepared by one of the leading international scholars of the author's work. Huerto cerrado offers an ideal point of entry to many of the key issues of contemporary Latin American literature, such as the concern with youth and popular culture, issues relating to sexuality, and challenges to dominant social and political structures. This edition offers insights not only into contemporary Peru and the relationship between that country's society and its literature, but also the work of one of the continent's outstanding literary voices.