Memories of My Melancholy Whores

Memories of My Melancholy Whoresis Gabriel Garcia Marquez's first work of fiction in ten years, written at the height of his powers, the Spanish edition of which Ilan Stavans called, "Masterful. Erotic. As hypnotizing as it is disturbing" (Los Angeles Times). On the eve of his ninetieth birthday, our unnamed protagonistan undistinguished journalist and lifelong bachelordecides to give himself "the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin." The virgin, whom an old madam procures for him, is splendidly young, with the silent power of a sleeping beauty. The night of love blossoms into a transforming year. It is a year in which he relives, in a rush of memories, his lifetime of (paid-for) sexual adventures and experiences a revelation that brings him to the edge of dyingnot of old age, but, at long last, of uncorrupted love. Memories of My Melancholy Whoresis a brilliant gem by the master storyteller. From the Hardcover edition.

Gabriel García Márquez was born in 1927 near Aracataca, Colombia. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982.

Edith Grossman is widely recognized as the preeminent Spanish-to-English translator of our time.

Gabriel García Márquez’s Living to Tell the Tale, The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Love in the Time of Cholera, News of a Kidnapping, and The General in His Labyrinth are available in Vintage paperback. Vivir para contarla, El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Crónica de una muerta anunciada, El general en su laberinto and Memorias de mis putas tristes are available in Vintage Español.


From the Hardcover edition.