Marquez's first work of fiction for ten years now published in paperback. It is a sensual and hypnotic journey through the mind of a man discovering the transformative and redemptive powers of love, after a lifetime filled with hundreds of different women for hire. It received some wonderful reviews: e.g. 'There is not one stale sentence, redundant word or unfinished thought' "The Times". Widely regarded as one of the world's greatest living authors, Marquez is 80 this year; in addition to this new paperback, Penguin will be reissuing his entire backlist over the next few months.

"The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin." 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.