The General in his Labyrinth is the compelling tale of Simon Bolivar a hero who has been forgotten & whose power is fading retracing his steps down the Magdalena River by the Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez author of One Hundred Years of Solitude & Love in the Time of Cholera ' It was the fourth time he had travelled along the Magdalena & he could not escape the impression that he was retracing the steps of his life' At the age of forty-six General Simon Bolivar who drove the Spanish from his lands & became the Liberator of South America takes himself into exile He makes a final journey down the Magdalene River revisiting the cities along its shores reliving the triumphs passions & betrayals of his youth Consumed by the memories of what he has done & what he failed to do Bolivar hopes to see a way out of the labyrinth in which he has lived all his life ' An exquisite writer wise compassionate & extremely funny' Sunday Telegraph' An imaginative writer of genius' Guardian' The most important writer of fiction in any language' Bill Clinton