Strange Pilgrims

'The first thing Señora Prudencia Linero noticed when she reached the Port of Naples was that it had the same smell as the Port of Riohacha'

 

Their distant, nostalgic memories of home, their sense of anonymity in a foreign land, the terrifying pang of vulnerability they feel as they step over the threshold into an alien world . . .

 

Márquez's strange pilgrims - the ageing prostitute preparing for death by teaching her dogs to weep at her grave, the panicked husband scared for the life of his injured wife, the old man who allows his mind to wander on a long-haul flight from Paris - experience with all his humour, warmth and colour what it is to be a Latin American adrfit in Europe or, indeed, any outsider living far from home.

 

'Celebratory and full of strange relish at life's oddness. The stories draw their strength from Márquez's generous feel for character, good and bad, boorish and innocent.' William Boyd

 

'The most important writer of fiction in any language.' Bill Clinton

 

'Often touching, often funny, always unexpected, the experience is as enriching as travel itself.' New Statesman