'The Colonel took the top off the coffee can and saw that there was only
one little spoonful left.' Fridays are different, every other day of the
week, the Colonel and his ailing wife fight a constant battle against
poverty and monotony, scraping together the drags of their savings for the
food and medicine that keeps them alive. But on Fridays the postman comes -
and that sets a fleeting wave of hope rushing through the Colonel's ageing
heart. For fifteen years he's watched the mail launch come into harbour,
hoping he'll be handed an envelope containing the army pension promised to
him all those years ago. Whilst he waits for the cheque, his hopes are
pinned on his prize bird and the upcoming cockfighting season. But until
then the bird - the Colonel and his wife - must somehow be fed . . .
'Márquez writes in this lyrical, magical language that no one else can do.'
Salman Rushdie 'Masterly. He dazzles us with powerful effect.' New
Statesman 'One of this century's most evocative writers.' Anne Tyler