In the decaying Colombian town to Macondo the Colonel and his ailing wife are living a hand-to-mouth existence, scraping together the money for food and medicine. The Colonel's hopes for a better future lie with his rooster, which for him, and indeed the whole town, has become a symbol of defiance in the face of despair.....

'Marquez has insighrs and sympathies which he can project with the intensity of a reflecting mirror in a bright sun.... No One Writes to the Colonel is a masterly picture of despair and optimism whose vivid alterations seem to characterize so much of Latin American life....He dazzles us with powerful effect - David Haworth in the.