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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when another writer sends Don Quixote back onto the roads of Spain?
An aging gentleman believes he is a knight errant, and adventure calls again. Don Quixote rides out with Sancho Panza, his hungry, simple squire. But this is Avellaneda’s rival continuation: familiar companions now follow a different course, with a coarser Sancho and a harsher laugh.
Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda is a pen name, and the writer behind it remains unknown. His unauthorized sequel appears in 1614, before Cervantes finishes his own second part. The book offers more than another journey: it lets you explore a literary quarrel through the characters at its heart.
What you’ll discover
- A familiar knight redirected Follow Don Quixote as another writer sends him out in search of adventure.
- Sancho with a harder edge Meet a hungry, simple companion whose portrayal invites comparison with Cervantes’s more tender squire.
- Devotion takes another shape Discover how Dulcinea del Toboso’s place changes within this rival vision of the knight.
- A gentleman between sequels Encounter Álvaro Tarfe, a gentleman on the knight’s travels whom Cervantes later borrows.
- A quarrel on the page Explore the rival tale that pushes Cervantes to answer within his own continuation.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you love comic road stories, squires who think mostly of supper, and literary rivalries. It also suits readers curious how two writers imagined one great character.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A forgotten romance revives the fever
- New armor serves the old fantasy
- Kindness cannot turn the knight home
- Rescue gives way to calculated mockery
- Stories turn the road toward repentance
- Every grander welcome hides another joke
- Ridicule carries a lesson against chivalry
- Watch who laughs and who pays
Who’s who
- Don QuixoteA gaunt hidalgo from La Mancha who believes he is a knight-errant and calls himself the Knight Without Love. He wants glory at a tournament.
- Sancho PanzaHis squire, a hungry, grumbling farmer with a head for proverbs. He wants wages, good meals and a safe return to his wife.
- Don Álvaro TarfeA courteous gentleman of Granada who first guest-hosts the knight, then rescues him and keeps him entertained for his friends.
- Don CarlosA judge of Zaragoza's ring tournament who loves a good joke and helps arrange pranks against the knight.
- Mosén ValentínA charitable priest of Ateca who takes in the beaten pair and begs the knight to go home.
- BárbaraA scarred tripe seller from Alcalá whom Don Quixote calls Queen Zenobia. She wants to get home safely and live comfortably.
- Antonio de BracamonteA soldier back from Flanders who travels with the knight and tells a long tale of a Flemish gentleman.
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Don Quixote de la Mancha (Apocryphal)
by Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda · 1614
After recovering his sanity, a hidalgo hears Sancho Panza mention a romance and sets off for Zaragoza.
Challenging5–10 hours to read20 languages
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In short
What happens when a cured madman is reminded of his old books? Don Quixote has spent months at Mass and reading the lives of saints, and his neighbors call him Señor Quijada again.
Don Quixote de la Mancha (Apocryphal) at a glance
- Reading time
- About 9 h 45 min7 h 45 min fast, 11 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 138,900 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1614by Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A cured knight is pulled back by Sancho
In Argamesilla, Don Quixote has come home from his last adventures in a cage. The priest and the barber feed him good food and give him holy books. He reads the lives of the saints, goes to Mass, and within six months seems well. His neighbors call him Martín Quijada, and no one may mention his old exploits.
Then Sancho visits and finds his master reading a book of saints' lives. Flaying and roasting make him wince. So he mentions a book a schoolboy read under a tree, about a knight who splits a rock and kills a serpent. Don Quixote names it as Don Florisbian of Candaria, and by evening giants and castles crowd his head. When four gentlemen from Granada ride in, bound for a tournament, the spark finds dry straw.
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Details
- First published
- 1614
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Fernández de Avellaneda, Alonso. Don Quixote de la Mancha (Apocryphal). Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/don-quixote-de-la-mancha-apocryphal.
Fernández de Avellaneda, A. (2026). Don Quixote de la Mancha (apocryphal). Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/don-quixote-de-la-mancha-apocryphal (Original work published 1614)
Fernández de Avellaneda, Alonso. Don Quixote de la Mancha (Apocryphal). Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/don-quixote-de-la-mancha-apocryphal.
@book{fernandezdeavellaneda2026don,
author = {Fernández de Avellaneda, Alonso},
title = {Don Quixote de la Mancha (Apocryphal)},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/don-quixote-de-la-mancha-apocryphal},
note = {First published 1614}
}
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Who wrote the apocryphal Don Quixote?
It was written under the name Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda, a pen name whose owner has never been settled. Scholars have proposed several candidates. The book appeared in 1614, a year before Cervantes published his own second part.
What is the Avellaneda Don Quixote about?
A cured Don Quixote falls back into his fantasies and rides with Sancho Panza toward a tournament in Zaragoza, then on to Madrid. Rich gentlemen stage pranks along the way, and a tripe seller is hailed as an Amazon queen.
How is it different from Cervantes's Don Quixote?
The knight gives up Dulcinea and wants a new lady, Sancho is greedier and cruder, and the humor is harsher. The book mixes pranks with religious tales and sermons. It aims to ridicule readers of chivalry romances.
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