Barcza Pardo Mercedes. At the age of 13, Gabriel Garcia Marquez encountered his future spouse on the dance floor and she promptly proposed marriage to him. She had to finish her education before she could consent. It took 13 years for them to be able to marry. While Gaby was writing “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” Mercedes was by his side. The work was finished eighteen months later, but even then, the author lacked the funds to send it to an editor. Then Mercedes sold her mixer and hair dryer, the last two items she owned. Her husband’s book quickly gained him enormous profits, international acclaim, and the Nobel Prize.