On the eve of his ninetieth birthday a newspaper columnist in Colombia decides to give himself 'a night of mad love with a virgin adolescent'. But on seeing this beautiful girl he falls deeply under her spell. His love for his 'Delgadina' causes him to recall all the women he has paid to perform acts of love.

«Gabriel Garcia Marquez, winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature and author of One Hundred Years of Solitude, explores the loneliness of power in Autumn of the Patriarch. 'Over the weekend the vultures got into the presidential palace by pecking through the screens on the balcony windows and the flapping of their wings stirred up the stagnant time inside.' As the citizens of an unnamed Caribbean nation creep through dusty corridors in search of their tyrannical leader, they cannot comprehend that the frail and withered man lying dead on the floor can be the self-styled General of the Universe. Their arrogant, manically violent leader, known for serving up traitors to dinner guests and drowning young children at sea, can surely not die the humiliating death of a mere mortal? Tracing the demands of a man whose egocentric excesses mask the loneliness of isolation and whose lies have become so ingrained that they are indistinguishable from truth, Marquez has created a fantastical portrait of despotism that rings with an air of reality. «Delights with its quirky humanity and black humour and impresses by its total originality». (Vogue). «Captures perfectly the moral squalor and political paralysis that enshrouds a society awaiting the death of a long-term dictator». (Guardian). «Marquez writes in this lyrical, magical language that no-one else can do». (Salman Rushdie). As one of the pioneers of magic realism and perhaps the most prominent voice of Latin American literature, Gabriel Garcia Marquez has received international recognition for his novels, works of non-fiction and collections of short stories. Those published in translation by Penguin include Bon Voyage Mr.President, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Collected Stories, The General in his Labyrinth, In the Evil Hour, Innocent Erendira and Other Stories, Leaf Storm, Living to Tell the Tale, Love in the Time of Cholera, Memories of Melancholy Whores, News of a Kidnapping, No-one Writes to the Colonel, Of Love and Other Demons, The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor and Strange Pilgrims.»

«One of the world's most famous novels, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, blends the natural with the supernatural in on one of the most magical reading experiences on earth. 'Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.' Gabriel Garcia Marquez's great masterpiece is the story of seven generations of the Buendia family and of Macondo, the town they have built. Though little more than a settlement surrounded by mountains, Macondo has its wars and disasters, even its wonders and its miracles. A microcosm of Columbian life, its secrets lie hidden, encoded in a book, and only Aureliano Buendia can fathom its mysteries and reveal its shrouded destiny. Blending political reality with magic realism, fantasy and comic invention, One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of the most daringly original works of the twentieth century. «Dazzling». (The New York Times). As one of the pioneers of magic realism and perhaps the most prominent voice of Latin American literature, Gabriel Garcia Marquez has received international recognition for his novels, works of non-fiction and collections of short stories. Those published in translation by Penguin include Autumn of the Patriarch, Bon Voyage Mr. President, Collected Stories, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, The General in his Labyrinth, Innocent Erendira and Other Stories, In the Evil Hour, Leaf Storm, Living to Tell the Tale, Love in the Time of Cholera, Memories of My Melancholy Whores, News of a Kidnapping, No-one Writes to the Colonel, Of Love and Other Demons, The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor and Strange Pilgrims.»

«Nobel Prize winner and author of «One Hundred Years of Solitude» and «Love in the Time of Cholera», Gabriel Garcia Marquez blends the natural with supernatural in «Of Love and Other Demons» — a novel which explores community, superstition and collective hysteria. 'An ash-grey dog with a white blaze on its forehead burst on to the rough terrain of the market on the first Sunday of December'. When a witch doctor appears on the Marquis de Casalduero's doorstep prophesising a plague of rabies in the Colombian seaport, he dismisses her claims — until he hears that his young daughter, Sierva Maria, was one of four people bitten by a rabid dog, and the only one to survive. Sierva Maria appears completely unscathed — but as rumours of the plague spread, the Marquis and his wife wonder at her continuing good health. In a town consumed by superstition, it's not long before they, and everyone else, put her survival down to a demonic possession and begin to see her supernatural powers as the cause of the town's woes. Only the young priest charged with exorcizing the evil spirit recognises the girl's sanity, but can he convince the town that it's not her that needs healing? «Superb and intensely readable». («Time Out»). «A compassionate, witty and unforgettable masterpiece». («Daily Telegraph»). «At once nostalgic and satiric, a resplendent fable». («Sunday Times»). As one of the pioneers of magic realism and perhaps the most prominent voice of Latin American literature, Gabriel Garcia Marquez has received international recognition for his novels, works of non-fiction and collections of short stories. Those published in translation by Penguin include «Autumn of the Patriarch», «Bon Voyage Mr.President», «Collected Stories», «Chronicle of a Death Foretold», «The General in his Labyrinth», «Innocent Erendira and Other Stories», «In the Evil Hour», «Leaf Storm», «Living to Tell the Tale», «Love in the Time of Cholera», «Memories of My Melancholy Whores», «News of a Kidnapping», «No-one Writes to the Colonel», «One Hundred Years of Solitude», «The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor» and «Strange Pilgrims».»

Gabriel Garcia Marquez has been one of the literary giants of the past century; his body of work is an undisputed cultural landmark and a touchstone for countless readers and writers alike. In the wake of the author's death, Penguin is reissuing what is arguably his most beloved novel in a beautiful, commemorative hardback edition. One Hundred Years of Solitude is a true classic, a timelessly fascinating and intricately patterned work of fiction and a joyful, irrepressible celebration of humanity. This iconic work is the perfect celebration of Marquez's extraordinary impact on the modern world and his phenomenal literary achievements.

Pablo Escobar: billionaire drugs baron; ruthless manipulator, brutal killer and jefe of the infamous Medellín cartel. A man whose importance in the international drug trade and renown for his charitable work among the poor brought him influence and power in his home country of Colombia, and the unwanted attention of the American courts. Terrified of the new Colombian President’s determination to extradite him to America, Escobar found the best bargaining tools he could find: hostages. In the winter of 1990, ten relatives of Colombian politicians, mostly women, were abducted and held hostage as Escobar attempted to strong-arm the government into blocking his extradition. Two died, the rest survived, and from their harrowing stories Márquez retells, with vivid clarity, the terror and uncertainty of those dark and volatile months.

‘César Montero was dreaming about elephants. He’d seen them at the movies on Sunday...’ Only moments later, César is led away by police as they clear the crowds away from the man he has just killed. But César is not the only man to be riled by the rumours being spread in his Colombian hometown – under the cover of darkness, someone creeps through the streets sticking malicious posters to walls and doors. Each night the respectable townsfolk retire to their beds fearful that they will be the subject of the following morning’s lampoons. As paranoia seeps through the town and the delicate veil of tranquility begins to slip, can the perpetrator be uncovered before accusation and violence leave the inhabitants’ sanity in tatters?

«'The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself a gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin'. He has never married, never loved and never gone to bed with a woman he didn't pay. But on finding a young girl naked and asleep on the brothel owner's bed, a passion is ignited in his heart — and he feels, for the first time, the urgent pangs of love. Each night, exhausted by her factory work, 'Delgadina' sleeps peacefully whilst he watches her quietly. During these solitary early hours, his love for her deepens and he finds himself reflecting on his newly found passion and the loveless life he has led. By day, his columns in the local newspaper are read avidly by those who recognise in his outpourings the enlivening and transformative power of love. The publication of «Memories of My Melancholy Whores» spearheads «Penguin's» celebration of Marquez's 80th birthday in 2007.»

«Gabriel García Márquez Douze contes vagabonds Une femme prise en auto-stop par l'autobus d'un asile d'aliénés se retrouve enfermée. Un Colombien fait le siège du Vatican avec le cadavre imputrescible de sa fille, qu'il voudrait faire béatifier. Dix-sept Anglais sont empoisonnés à Naples par une soupe aux huîtres... Le romancier de L'Amour aux temps du choléra, prix Nobel de littérature, se montre aussi souverain dans la brièveté que dans l'épopée. Chacune des nouvelles de ce livre nous entraîne en quelques pages au coeur de situations ahuris santes, où le «réalisme magique» cher à l'écrivain colombien imprègne tour à tour Vienne, Naples, Genève, Barcelone... Certains de ces contes vagabonds sont de purs bijoux. Des miracles qui suffisent à notre bonheur. Frédéric Vitoux, Le Nouvel Observateur. Drôle, émouvant, féroce, inquiétant, superbe, García Márquez connaît tous les registres. Pierre Lepape, Le Monde. Gabriel García Márquez Douze contes vagabonds Une femme prise en auto-stop par l'autobus d'un asile d'aliénés se retrouve enfermée. Un Colombien fait le siège du Vatican avec le cadavre imputrescible de sa fille, qu'il voudrait faire béatifier. Dix-sept Anglais sont empoisonnés à Naples par une soupe aux huîtres... Le romancier de L'Amour aux temps du choléra, prix Nobel de littérature, se montre aussi souverain dans la brièveté que dans l'épopée. Chacune des nouvelles de ce livre nous entraîne en quelques pages au coeur de situations ahuris — santes, où le «réalisme magique» cher à l'écrivain colombien imprègne tour à tour Vienne, Naples, Genève, Barcelone... Certains de ces contes vagabonds sont de purs bijoux. Des miracles qui suffisent à notre bonheur. Frédéric Vitoux, Le Nouvel Observateur. Drôle, émouvant, féroce, inquiétant, superbe, García Márquez connaît tous les registres. Pierre Lepape, Le Monde.»

«In this long-awaited first volume of a planned trilogy, the most acclaimed and revered living Nobel laureate begins to tell us the story of his life. Like all his work, «Living to Tell the Tale» is a magnificent piece of writing. It spans Gabriel Garcia Marquez's life from his birth in 1927 through the start of his career as a writer to the moment in the 1950s when he proposed to the woman who would become his wife. It has the shape, the quality, and the vividness of a conversation with the reader--a tale of people, places, and events as they occur to him: the colorful stories of his eccentric family members; the great influence of his mother and maternal grandfather; his consuming career in journalism, and the friends and mentors who encouraged him; the myths and mysteries of his beloved Colombia; personal details, undisclosed until now, that would appear later, transmuted and transposed, in his fiction; and, above all, his fervent desire to become a writer. And, as in his fiction, the narrator here is an inspired observer of the physical world, able to make clear the emotions and passions that lie at the heart of a life--in this instance, his own. «Living to Tell the Tale» is a radiant, powerful, and beguiling memoir that gives us the formation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez as a writer and as a man.»

Cesar Montero was dreaming about elephants. He'd seen them at the movies on Sunday... Only moments later, Cesar is led away by police as they clear the crowds away from the man he has just killed. But Cesar is not the only man to be riled by the rumours being spread in his Colombian hometown — under the cover of darkness, someone creeps through the streets sticking malicious posters to walls and doors. Each night the respectable townsfolk retire to their beds fearful that they will be the subject of the following morning's lampoons. As paranoia seeps through the town and the delicate veil of tranquility begins to slip, can the perpetrator be uncovered before accusation and violence leave the inhabitants' sanity in tatters?

Setting out to reconstruct a murder that took place 27 years earlier, this chronicle moves backwards and forwards in time, through the contradictions of memory and moments lost in time. Its irony gives the book the nuances of a political fable.

Dall'epica fondazione di Macondo, fino alla decifrazione delle misteriose pergamene dello zingaro Melquiades e alla decadenza della gloriosa famiglia Buendia. Un classico del realismo magico sudamericano.