This has been on my list for years. I wish I hadn't waited to read it! Uh, wow.

Paolo Polvodero, a child of indistinct age, lives with his parents in a small house at the very tip of Chile. It's a life of wind and rain on their sparse farm. Then a hardened criminal, Angel Allegria, makes his way there, decides he lives there now, and stabs Paolo's parents to death. He does not wish to harm Paolo, so they live together in an uneasy partnership. Soon, another traveler comes by, Luis, the son of a rich winemaker who is expected to travel the world but does not want to. He has come to this very remote area to hide and hope that his friends and family will assume he is living up to the family tradition.

Soon, the three of them are living together as an unusual family unit. Raising Paolo is giving Angel a purpose that he's never had before. But he starts to worry that Paolo likes Luis more. When their party is forced to make its way to a town to purchase livestock, they all encounter dilemmas that they never thought about living on the farm.

This was deceptively simple. It read like a fable, but an oddly intense and emotionally exhausting fable. It only took a couple of days to read, but I think it's going to stick with me for a long time.