'' The Bridge of San Luis Rey '' ( 1927 ) tells the story of several unrelated people who happen to be on a bridge in Peru when it collapses , killing them . Philosophically , the book explores the question of why unfortunate events occur to people who seem " innocent " or " undeserving " . It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928 , and in 1998 it was selected by the editorial board of the American Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of the twentieth century . The book was quoted by British Prime Minister Tony Blair during the memorial service for victims of the September 11 attacks in 2001 . Since then its popularity has grown enormously . The book is the progenitor of the modern disaster epic in literature and film-making , where a single disaster intertwines the victims , whose lives are then explored by means of flashbacks to events before the disaster
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Thornton Wilder