Gabriel Garcia Marquez's great masterpiece is the story of seven generations of the Buenedia family and of Mocondo, the town they have built. Though little more than a settlement surrounded by mountains, Mocondo has its wars and disasters, even its wonders and miracles. A microcosm of Columbian 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 Hundred Years of Solitudeis one of the most daringly original works of the twentieth century.