Fifty years, nine months, and four days is the time it takes to trace the lives of the three main characters in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel Love in the Time of Cholera, set in an unnamed country on the coast of South America. This is the epic story of a woman who lived in a heat-swollen country but never becane one of its bloated survivors, keeping herself intact with her wit. Marquez tells her story …showed first 75 words of 1013 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1013 total…left, Florentino steps forward with his hat over his heart "Fermina," he declares, "I have waited for this opportunity for more than half a century, to repeat to you once again my vow of eternal fidelity and everlasting love." Shocked and furious, Fermina orders him out of the house. "And don't show your face again for the years of life that are left to you . . . I hope there are very few of them." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**