“Sitting in the wicker rocking chair with her interrupted work in her lap, Amaranta watched Aureliano José, his chin covered with foam, stropping his razor to give himself his first shave. His blackheads bled and he cut his upper lip as he tried to shape a mustache of blond fuzz, and when it was all over he looked the same as before, but the laborious process gave Amaranta the feeling that she had begun to grow old at that moment.”

Colombian writer and journalist

Gabriel García Márquez was a Colombian writer and journalist, active in the 20th century. Known across Latin America as Gabo or Gabito, he became a major figure in Spanish-language literature. He left law school for journalism after educating himself on his own, and his work and public voice made him widely known. He was also outspoken in his criticism of Colombian and foreign politics. In 1958, he married Mercedes Barcha Pardo, and they had two sons, Rodrigo and Gonzalo.