‘THE FIRST THING SEÑORA PRUDENCIA LINERO NOTICED WHEN SHE REACHED THE PORT OF NAPLES WAS THAT IT HAD THE SAME SMELL AS THE PORT OF RIOHACHA.’

In the ageing prostitute preparing for death by teaching her dogs to weep at her grave, in the panicked husband scared for the life of his injured wife, in the old man who allows his mind to wander on a long-haul flight from Paris, we see the sense of loneliness and freedom of those who, through choice, chance or compulsion, must step over the threshold into an alien world…

In these beautiful tales, Márquez shows, with all his humour, warmth and colour, what it is to be a Latin American adrift in Europe or, indeed, any outsider living far from home.