14 h 45 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 14 h 45 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Two pilgrims hide their names as they cross icy seas, carrying a love that rivals and distance put to the test.
In The Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda, Miguel de Cervantes opens on a harsh island in the cold northern seas, where prisoners face cruel customs. Periandro and Auristela travel toward Rome as pilgrims, calling themselves brother and sister. Both conceal their high birth and true names.
Their road gathers a changing company: Mauricio, who reads the stars; his daughter Transila; and Rutilio, a dancing master with stories of his own. Sea voyages and island prisons bring danger, while Arnaldo, a Danish prince, loves Auristela. Beneath the disguises and adventures lies a question: can love remain loyal across distance and jealousy?
What you’ll discover
- A dark island beginning Enter a cold northern world where captivity makes escape the first urgent hope.
- Love behind borrowed names Follow Periandro and Auristela as their hidden identities complicate a shared pilgrimage.
- Travelers with their own tales Meet a watchful father, his determined daughter, and a dancing master who brings humor.
- Rivals along the road Discover how admiration becomes trouble when powerful suitors turn their eyes toward Auristela.
- Loyalty across great distances Explore a romance where love means constancy, not passion alone, through separation and danger.
Who will love it
This book is for readers who love sea voyages, pirates, disguises and tales told inside tales. It suits fans of Don Quixote who want to see what its author wrote last.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A bound boy on a raft meets a prince
- A sale, a sacrifice and an island on fire
- Stories in the cave and on the open sea
- A prophecy at the inn and a ship that sinks
- King Polycarp's island of love and jealousy
- Periander's tale of pirates, ice and hermits
- A pilgrim road through Spain, France and Italy
- Love is tested again and again by jealousy
- Faith and a vow keep the pilgrims on course
- Episodes, interruptions and an imagined North
Who’s who
- PerianderA beautiful, brave young pilgrim who passes as Auristella's brother and who will give up wealth, rank and safety to stay true to her.
- AuristellaA young woman of royal blood, devout and modest, who has vowed to reach Rome and who struggles with jealousy along the way.
- ArnoldoThe heir of Denmark, who loves Auristella so deeply that he follows the pilgrims across seas and lands without forcing her will.
- AntonioA Spanish soldier who became a barbarian by chance and who guides the pilgrims home to Spain with his Christian family.
- MauriceAn aged astrologer from the northern islands, who wants only to recover his daughter and to see her happily married.
- RutilioAn Italian dancing master and poet who escapes a witch and the barbarians and who keeps finding good in the middle of trouble.
- SinforosaA king's daughter who loves Periander at first sight and bears her hopeless longing with grace and shame.
- ConstanceAntonio's daughter, raised in a cave, who grows into a devoted friend to Auristella and a loyal companion on the road.
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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The Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda
by Miguel de Cervantes · 1617
A bound boy on a raft drifts from a barbarian storm into the arms of Prince Arnoldo of Denmark.
Challenging10–20 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
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In short
Imagine being tied with your hands behind your back on six planks in a storm, after the barbarians guarding you have drowned. That is the first sea peril in The Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda.
The Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda at a glance
- Reading time
- About 8 h 10 min6 h 30 min fast, 9 h 45 min slow
- Length
- 117,000 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1617by Miguel de Cervantes
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 bound boy on a raft meets a prince
The book opens at the mouth of a dungeon on a barbarian island. A man named Corsicurbo orders an old captive, Clelia, to bind a young prisoner and send him up. The boy is about nineteen, with hair in rings like gold, and his beauty softens even the men who lead him toward death.
He shows no fear. He thanks Heaven that he will die under the open sky, and he says he is a Christian. A hurricane tears his raft apart. The boy rides six planks out to sea and drifts into a bay where a ship lies at anchor. Sailors lift him aboard.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1617
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 9 h 35 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Cervantes, Miguel de. The Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wanderings-of-persiles-and-sigismunda.
Cervantes, M. de. (2026). The wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wanderings-of-persiles-and-sigismunda (Original work published 1617)
Cervantes, Miguel de. The Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wanderings-of-persiles-and-sigismunda.
@book{cervantes2026wanderings,
author = {Cervantes, Miguel de},
title = {The Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wanderings-of-persiles-and-sigismunda},
note = {First published 1617}
}
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What is The Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda about?
It follows two young pilgrims who pose as brother and sister and travel from icy northern islands through Spain, France and Italy to Rome. Pirates, rulers, witches and rivals try to stop them, and each new person tells a story of love or loss.
Is Persiles and Sigismunda a true story?
No, it is a work of imagination. Cervantes modelled it on an old Greek romance and filled the north with invented places and customs. The Spanish, French and Italian stops are more realistic, with real towns and shrines such as Guadalupe.
When did Cervantes write Persiles and Sigismunda?
The dedication bears a date in 1616, just days before his death, and this was the final book he completed. He wrote it after Don Quixote and hoped it would be among his best works. It was printed after he died.
The author
Miguel de Cervantes
1547–1616 · Spanish novelist, poet and playwright
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547–1616) was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. He was born in Alcalá de Henares and died in Madrid. He published La Galatea in 1585 and Don Quixote in two parts, in 1605 and 1615. The Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda appeared after his death, in 1617.
More by Miguel de Cervantes
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