'I have never gone to bed with a woman I didn't pay . . .' 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. And so the columnist realizes he must chronicle the life of his heart, to offer it freely to the world . . . 'Profoundly haunting . . . one of literature's great figures pushes back the years and gives us fiction of the very highest order.' The Times Literary Supplement 'There is not one stale sentence, redundant word or unfinished thought.' The Times 'Márquez is wonderful on the transformative and redemptive powers of love . . . storytelling magic.' Tatler