UNTIL AUGUST by Gabriel García Márquez

Translated by Anne McLean

Whether you take his sons’ word for it that the great Gabo wanted the manuscript to Until August destroyed or would rather believe his editor that he’d all but signed off on it in 2004, we now find ourselves gifted with a posthumous final novella by one of the most celebrated writers of the 20th century. For those who followed Marquez into his literary twilight years, there is reason to be nervous. That Melancholy Whores book was terrible. So what of this?

Each year, Ana Magdalena Bach travels to the small island on which her mother is buried. On one visit, she has a one night stand with a stranger at her hotel. He tucks twenty dollars into the book by her bed and flees. Torn between exhilaration and insult, she is forced to reassess her life, her marriage and future. When she returns the following year she takes on a new lover, again for one night. And so it goes, year after year. If Gabo didn’t think Until August works, he was wrong. It is warm and delightful with a deeply compassionate take on love and ageing. And that last scene… whooooah.

A fitting farewell hug from the master.

Until August by Gabriel García Márquez (Tr. Anne McLean)
Penguin Random House, 2024
110 pages