Magic realism has the ability to transport us to new worlds on our very own planet. Its basis lies in attributing magical elements to everyday existence, creating incredibly fun and unique works by some of history’s top authors.

Lying somewhere between reality and fantasy, this sprawling canon of works found its creation in Latin America, with the likes of Gabriela Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende leading the charge with some of the continent’s - and the world’s - most creative stories.

Today, the genre has produced works from all over the world, with many authors attributing their own cultural intrigues into these otherwise everyday stories.

With all this in mind, it goes without saying that there are a plethora of masterpieces that simply must be read.

Here are a selection of the best magic realism books to get you started:

1. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Ask any fan of the genre which book you should start on and they will likely answer with One Hundred Years of Solitude. The big daddy of the genre, this stunning effort of creativity includes some of the most illuminating passages of literature from the 20th Century (partly why old Gabriel Garcia found himself taking home a Nobel Prize in Literature).

One Hundred Years of Solitude is about the Buendías, a family who live in a nameless town in the Colombian countryside. Beginning long ago and traversing numerous familiarial generations, the novel gives readers a sublime insight into the trials and tribulations faced by Colombian people (but always with that bright magical element invigorating the tale).

A joy to read and a rite of passage for young readers in general, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a novel that is a joy for the soul…

2. The Master & Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

This blogger is claiming it: The Master & Margarita is one of the funniest books of all time. After all, one of its opening passages contains a big, fat, anthropomorphic cat being refused entry onto a streetcar for being, well, a cat. However, nobody seemed to mind that this cat was actually attempting to pay his way, only that he was being refused entry because he was a cat!

The Master & Margarita is a supremely creative work of fiction, one that glides across the Moscow of the new Communist regime, giving a kaleidoscopic insight into the country and the new challenges it was facing.

The devil has decided to visit Moscow, in which he heads there with his entourage of seriously unsavoury characters (one of whom is the fat fare-paying cat).

The devil, known in the story as “Woland”, is up to some serious mischief, but he’s not all bad, as he works hard to reinvigorate the life of the distraught Margarita, heartbroken after her love, The Master, lost his mind and went to an asylum.

The Master & Margarita was such a hit that when it was finally released on a wider scale it became the influence for The Rolling Stones’ classic, “Sympathy for the Devil”.

3. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Another classic from the Latin magical realism canon, Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits is a rich and enchanting novel that inspires the imagination like no other.

Again traversing multiple generations of the one family, this splendid debut novel perfectly encapsulates the familiarial and political trials of a Latin American family at a time of great overhaul, with spiritual connections to the dead playing an important role in the novel’s outcome…