Don Quixote

Published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, Miguel de Cervantes' masterpiece is widely considered the first modern novel and the greatest work of fiction ever written. The story of an ageing nobleman who reads too many chivalric romances and sets out as a knight-errant, tilting at windmills and misreading the world, invented the concept of the unreliable narrator, the meta-novel, and the modern antihero in one stroke. It has been translated into more languages than any book except the Bible, with over 700 editions in print worldwide.