ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE

'There are 24 main protagonists agonising over seven generations of the Buendia family in this intense, stylish saga which more or less coincides with the crackly, political and social history of Columbia between the years 1820 and 1920.' - Brooke Fieldhouse. Salman Rushdie said 'The greatest novel in any language of the last 50 years.' We are delighted to have this Penguin reprint of the book which put South America on the literary map. García Márquez tells the haunting story of a community lost in the depths of that almighty continent in his poetic masterpiece. 'Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.' Cousins José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Iguarán are married against their family's wishes. Úrsula initially refuses to consummate the marriage, fearing that their children will be born with birth defects. After José Arcadio kills Prudencio Aguilar in a duel, he and Úrsula are haunted by Prudencio's ghost, forcing them to leave town and find a new home. As José Arcadio, Úrsula, and several of their friends trek through the wilderness, Úrsula goes into labour and delivers a baby boy named José Arcadio. They eventually establish the small village of Macondo. Pipes and kettle drums herald the arrival of gypsies on their annual visit to Macondo. As the mysterious Melquíades excites Aureliano Buendía and his father with new inventions and tales of adventure, neither can know the significance of the indecipherable manuscript that the old gypsy passes into their hands. Melquíades introduces the Buendías to the daguerreotype, and José Arcadio becomes obsessed with using it to capture God's image. Pietro Crespi arrives at the Buendía home to install a pianola, and both Rebeca and Amaranta vie for his affections. The Colombian government appoints Apolinar Moscote as the magistrate of Macondo, angering José Arcadio. Through plagues and insomnia, civil war, hauntings and vendettas, the many tribulations of the Buendía household push memories of the manuscript aside. Few remember its existence and only one will discover the hidden message that it holds. Now a major Netflix TV series, read the original. 422pp, Penguin paperback.