Love in the Time of Cholera

As young men, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fell deeply in love. When Fermina decided to marry a wealthy doctor of noble birth, Florentino was deeply saddened, but he was a romantic. As his career ascended, he spent his years having 622 love affairs, yet he maintained his love for Fermina. Finally, her husband died, and Florentino deliberately attended her funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after declaring his love for Fermina, he would do it again. With humorous wit and consummate skill, García Márquez traces a half-century of unrequited love. Although love seems so irrepressible, it flows through the novel in many wonderful forms—joyful, sad, rich, and always surprising.