Colombian

The brilliant, bestselling, landmark novel that tells the story of the Buendia family, and chronicles the irreconcilable conflict between the desire for solitude and the need for love—in rich, imaginative prose that has come to define an entire genre known as "magical realism."

A constellation of short stories illustrates the complex, interrelated lives of women in and around Bogotá, Colombia. In six subtly connected vignettes, Variations on the Body explores the obsessions, desires, and idiosyncrasies of women and girls from every level of Colombian society. A former FARC guerilla fighter adjusts to urban life and faces the new violence of an editor co-opting her experiences. A woman documents a flea infestation with a catalog of the marks on her body. A child copes with anxiety about the adult world by concocting—and drinking—"dirt juice" every day in the garden. Combining humor, heartbreak, and unsettling violence, Ospina weaves a multifaceted picture of contemporary Bogotá in vibrant, gleaming prose.