Gabriel García Márquez

Love in the Time of Cholera follows Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza, whose youthful romance is interrupted when Fermina chooses to marry the respectable doctor Juvenal Urbino. Florentino remains devoted to her for decades, sustaining his hope of being reunited with her while pursuing numerous other relationships. As time passes, the characters confront ageing, social expectations, desire, and the changing meaning of commitment. Set in a Caribbean city inspired by Colombia, the novel examines the many forms love can take, from idealised romantic longing to companionship shaped by shared experience. García Márquez questions whether love can survive the passage of time and whether passion in old age can be as transformative as the feelings of youth.

One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the Buendía family across seven generations in the fictional town of Macondo, founded by José Arcadio Buendía and his wife, Úrsula. As the town grows from an isolated settlement into a place transformed by political conflict and modernisation, the family experiences extraordinary passions, recurring tragedies, and mysterious events. Magic and everyday life coexist, while characters repeatedly struggle with loneliness, desire, ambition, and the burden of their ancestors’ mistakes. Through the Buendías, García Márquez explores the cyclical nature of history and the difficulty of escaping inherited patterns. The novel combines family saga, political allegory, and magical realism to portray the rise and decline of an entire community.