Gabriel Garcia Marquez's great master-piece is the story of seven generations of the Buendia family and of Macondo the town they have built. Though little more than a settlement surrounded by mountains Macondo has its wars and disasters even its wonders and miracles. A microcosm of Colombian life its secrets lie hidden encoded in a book and only Aureliano Buendia can fathom its mysteries and reveal its shrouded destiny. Blending political reality with magic realism fantasy with comic invention One Hundrd Years of solitude is one of the most daringly original works of the twentieth century.