Snowed in? We thought we’d heat up your February with a one-of-a -kind love triangle from masterful South American author Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Epic passion and heartbreak will get you through this icy month and straight on through to Valentine’s Day.

This book is difficult to sum up in a few sentences, but that doesn’t stop Library Journal from trying (some spoilers, so beware):

While delivering a message to her father, Florentino Ariza spots the barely pubescent Fermina Daza and immediately falls in love. What follows is the story of a passion that extends over 50 years, as Fermina is courted solely by letter, decisively rejects her suitor when he first speaks, and then joins the urbane Dr. Juvenal Urbino, much above her station, in a marriage initially loveless but ultimately remarkable in its strength. Florentino remains faithful in his fashion; paralleling the tale of the marriage is that of his numerous liaisons, all ultimately without the depth of love he again declares at Urbino’s death. In substance and style not as fantastical, as mythologizing, as the previous works, this is a compelling exploration of the myths we make of love. Highly recommended. Barbara Hoffert

If you’re ready to plunge in to some magical realism this February, stop by the Oak Park Public Library’s second floor Adult & Teen Services desk to pick up a copy of Love in the Time of Cholera. Then please join us for a discussion at Molly Malone’s (upstairs) on Tuesday, February 22nd, at 8pm.