Gabriel García Márquez

'On the day they were going to kill him Santiago Nasar got up at five-thirty in the morning to wait for the boat the bishop was coming on' Santiago Nasar is brutally murdered in a small town by two brothers. All the townspeople knew it was going to happen - including the victim. But nobody did anything to prevent the killing.

Twenty seven years later a man arrives in town to try and piece together the truth from the contradictory testimonies of the townsfolk. To at last understand what happened to Santiago and why. . .

'It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love'

Fifty-one years nine months and four days have passed since Fermina Daza rebuffed hopeless romantic Florentino Ariza's impassioned advances and married Dr Juvenal Urbino instead. 

During that half-century Flornetino has fallen into the arms of many delighted women but has loved none but Fermina. When Fermina's husband is killed trying to retrieve his pet parrot from a mango tree Florentino seizes his chance to declare his enduring love. But can young love find new life in the twilight of their lives?

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 is a microcosm of Columbian life, and its secrets lie hidden, encoded in a book. Only Aureliano Buendia can fathom its mysteries and reveal its shrouded destiny.

Sitting alone, overlooking the still and blue lagoon, Ana Magdalena Bach surveys the men of the hotel bar. She is happily married and has no reason to escape the world she has made with her husband and children. And yet, every August, she travels here to the island where her mother is buried, and for one night takes a new lover. Amid sultry days and tropical downpours, lotharios and conmen, Ana journeys further each year into the hinterland of her desire, and the fear that sits quietly at her heart. Constantly surprising and wonderfully sensual, Until August is a profound meditation on freedom, regret, and the mysteries of love, from one of the greatest writers the world has ever known.