One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967; Engish translation: 1970) won him the Nobel prize for literature in 1982. It is a saga about a family whose history runs parallel to the history of Colombia. It is an ironic tale describing the family's experiences of the decay of their town.

It is set, like many of his works in the fictional town of Macondo, a town similar to the author's native Aracataca. The story mixes both realism and fantasy.