Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (2003, Paperback, Reprint)

A most romantic tale of love lost, unrequited love and love regained, part literature, part soap opera. The story centers around Florentino Ariza, who falls madly in love with Fermina Daza as an early teen. Their relationship is strained by her father, who wants her to marry into an aristocratic family, and short-lived. But Florentino's love for Fermina is timeless and unstoppable. He looks on and waits for 51 years, and after Fermina's husband for 51 years dies in a freak accident, he makes his move... on the night of his funeral. He is rebuffed immidiately, but the two septegenerians end up to together in a in a love that her daughter-in-law calls a "cochineria", a disgusting act.