Until August

Lindsay's Review

Marquez needs no introduction, nor does his brilliance require my dedicated support. In this post-humous work Marquez seems to complete his life's litany of stories that dwell on the tragic beauty that is the joy and the pathos of the human condition of love, twisted by desire, weighted by solitude, and gracefully enlightened by Latin American ambiance. In his final work, a happily married woman finds meaning and closure after her mother's death through random affairs with strangers when she makes a yearly pilgrimage to the grave on an island. The enchantment of his writing continues to speak from beyond the grave, but doubts about the quality of discovered manuscripts can be set aside. Once more, thankfully, Garcia speaks to our immortal sinful soul, like a coin dropped down a well in the darkness ripples the reflected glimmer of the framed sky above. The joy and sorrow of his perfected phrases is only outdone by the thought that this truly must be his last work, so hats off to a fitting finale.

The Guardian Review 
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/mar/10/until-august-by-gabriel-garcia-marquez-review-a-gently-diverting-posthumous-novel-in-a-minor-key

Publishers Review

Sitting alone, overlooking the still and blue lagoon, Ana Magdalena Bach surveys the men of the hotel bar. She is happily married and has no reason to escape the world she has made with her husband and children. And yet, every August, she travels here to the island where her mother is buried, and for one night takes a new lover.

Amid sultry days and tropical downpours, lotharios and conmen, Ana journeys further each year into the hinterland of her desire, and the fear that sits quietly at her heart.

Constantly surprising and wonderfully sensual, Until August is a profound meditation on freedom, regret, and the mysteries of love, from one of the greatest writers the world has ever known.