The Book of Longings meets Ahab's Wife and the work of Geraldine Brooks in Dulcinea, Ana Veciana-Suarez's beautiful homage to Don Quixote. Dolça, mistress, muse, and lifelong love of Miguel de Cervantes de Cortinas, paints her story against the rich backdrop of Spain as she travels from Barcelona to Madrid at the behest of her dying paramour. The daughter of a wealthy merchant, young Dolça was besotted with the dashing, bootstrapping author from their first meeting. Despite Miguel's entreaties, the ever-practical Dolça, with her love of luxury and her devotion to her own art, repeatedly refused to upend her life for him, although she always welcomed his attentions on her own terms. However, when Miguel renders her as the lowly Dulcinea in his great Quixote, creating a scandal and revealing their association, he commits an unforgivable offense and their decades-long affinity is severed, until he reaches out to her one last time.