Leaf Storm

146 pp. Translated from the Spanish by Gregory Rabassa. Author won Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982. Includes: Leaf Storm; The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World; A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings; Blacaman the Good, Vendor of Miracles; The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship; Monologue of Isabel Watching It Rain in Macondo; Nabo. Leaf Storm is the first book Garcia Marquez wrote. Already we see the colorful historical background that forms the basis for his later work. It covers the history of Macondo from 1903 to 1928, ending the year the author was born. A man dies and three people reflect on the story of Macondo's boom and decline as shown in the family fortunes over three generations. As they attend the wake, the members of the family recall the tragedy that involves them all. Grim, ironic, powerful, Leaf Storm creates a mysterious and ominous atmosphere that lingers on in the reader's mind.