Tilting at Windmills

January 31, 2005
What if Don Quixote appeared in the flesh, riding backwards on a noble steed and peeking out from under a makeshift helmet at his creator, Miguel de Cervantes? A meeting between the two literary greats is the creaky premise of this novel, but Branston's tale takes on a merry life of its own, proving itself no feeble pastiche. A formal introductory letter from "Cervantes" himself may discourage casual readers, but the author soon introduces a cast of deliciously human characters and unleashes them on one another in a tale of literary intrigue. Cervantes is hard at work on his masterpiece when his friend Pedro, a buffoonish aspiring merchant with a marked resemblance to Sancho Panza, confesses that the stories he has told Cervantes about a mad old knight are actually true, and the model for the character of Don Quixote is a real man. Cervantes is naturally eager to meet the errant knight, and his wish is fulfilled when the mad and maddening Don Quixote appears to defend Cervantes against an evil poet who is out to one-up the writer with a manuscript supposedly written by Don Quixote's love, Dulcinea. Once the old hero and Cervantes are in the same quarters—be it tavern or holy site or both—the dialogue sparkles and good writing conquers evil as true farce takes hold. This is a rollicking, earthy, compulsively readable take-off on the 17th-century classic. Agent, Howard Morhaim.

January 1, 2005
This delightful debut reimagines the life and times of Cervantes during the rising success of Don Quixote, which was published in serialized form. A poet named Ongora seeks to curry favor with the emperor of Spain by involving numerous characters (recognizable stereotypes from the classic, like a beautiful duchess and a sly marquis) in a scheme that threatens to discredit Cervantes. It is only through the intervention of a real-life Don Quixote, named the Old Knight, that Ongora's scheme is foiled and Cervantes's reputation saved. In addition to the absorbing plot and comical characters, this historical novel offers a clever style and insight into the manners and fashion of 17th-century Spain, using striking similes and metaphors that will delight readers. This tribute is a recommended companion to Don Quixote and should be considered by all collections.-David A. Berone, Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2005
In a truly inspired flight of fancy, Branston has created a fictionalized account of how the comic masterpiece " Don Quixote" came into being. It's the seventeenth century, and Miguel Cervantes is alive and well, writing and publishing in highly anticipated episodes what will become his masterwork--but there are many obstacles in his path. First and foremost, the character of Don Quixote is discovered to have a counterpart in the real world, a mad knight of a forgotten age who is obsessed with chivalry. The second impediment, a beautiful duchess who scorns Cervantes for his loyalty to an emperor whom she blames for the death of her soldier husband (Cervantes falls madly in love with her). And, finally, the plotting of the jealous Ongora, a scheming, vicious, dandy of a poet who would do anything to see Cervantes destroyed. Fortunately for Cervantes, his own creation, Don Quixote, comes to his aid, and their interactions make this novel an ingenious mesh of fact and fiction that reflects the romance and satire of the original story to which it pays tribute.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)