Miguel de Cervantes

“Cervantes' first book, a pastoral romance in prose and verse. On the banks of the Tagus two shepherds, the courtly Elicio and the simple Erastro, love the fair Galatea and stay friends; around them other shepherds and wanderers tell their stories of love, murder, friendship and disdain — until Galatea's father promises her to a stranger, and the shepherds gather to stop it.”

“A poor gentleman of La Mancha reads so many books of chivalry that he loses his wits, and rides out in rusty armour on a bony nag to right the world's wrongs, with a peasant neighbour, Sancho Panza, as his squire. Windmills become giants, inns castles, and a farm girl the peerless Dulcinea — until, at the end of two great Parts, the knight comes home and wakes from his dream.”

“Cervantes' last book, finished on his deathbed: a 'northern story' in the manner of Heliodorus. Two young pilgrims of wonderful beauty, Periandro and Auristela, who call themselves brother and sister, travel from the frozen islands of the North — barbarians, shipwrecks, kings in love — through Portugal, Spain and France to Rome, where at last their true names and their love are revealed.”