Artsy Traveler

Read novels set in Spain to get you excited about your trip or, even better, to read while you’re there. Lots of authors have been inspired to set novels in Spain, many of which revolve around art.

Each of the novels listed in this post relates in some way to the arts–from flamenco to Cervantes to Spanish Baroque art and more.

The Return by Victoria Hislop

In the heart of Granada, a family witnesses the worst horrors of the Spanish Civil War. Divided by politics and tragedy, everyone must choose a side, fighting a personal battle as Spain tears itself apart. With wonderful scenes featuring flamenco, this novel is a must-read for Spain bound travelers.

Dulcinea by Ana Veciana-Suarez

Dulcinea is a feminist reimagining of Cervantes’s Dolça, the fictional muse behind Don Quixote. The daughter of a wealthy merchant, young Dolça Llull Prat is besotted with the dashing, bootstrapping Miguel Cervantes from their first meeting. When Miguel renders her as the lowly Dulcinea in his great Quixote, revealing their association, he commits an unforgivable offense, and their decades-long affinity is severed—until he reaches out to her one last time.

The Lady with the Dark Hair by Erin Bartels

This a dual-time novel about artists and identity. Esther Markstrom and her artist mother have always been proud of their ancestor, painter Francisco Vella. They even run a small museum and gallery dedicated to raising awareness of his scandalously underappreciated work. But when Esther reconnects with her former art history professor, she finds her once-solid family history on shaky ground as questions arise about Vella’s greatest work–a portrait entitled The Lady with the Dark Hair.

Attribution by Linda Moore

When art historian Cate Adamson discovers a hidden painting, possibly a Baroque masterpiece, she risks her career, financial disaster, and further alienation from her family and flees to Spain with the painting to consult art experts.

The Girl from Oto by Amy Maroney

Following her birth 1500, Renaissance-era artist Mira is raised in a Pyrenees convent believing she is an orphan until she learns the terrible truth about her true origins, and must determine whether she possesses the strength to face those who would wish her harm.

The Lines Between Us by Rebecca D’Harlingue

Listed in the Literature category on Art In Fiction, The Lines Between Us is a dual-time book that takes place in Madrid in 1661 and Missouri in 1992. The connection between the two eras leads Rachel in 1992 to try healing the wounds caused by her mother’s lifelong reticence. 

The Spanish Bow by Andromeda Romano-Lax

The bequest of a cello bow sets Feliu on the path to becoming a musician, an unlikely destiny given his beginnings in a dusty Catalonian village. When he is forced to flee to anarchist Barcelona, his education in music, life, and politics begins. 

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns his mother’s death, finds comfort in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. 

Want more novels set in Spain? You’ll find many more on Art In Fiction, the website I created to showcase novels inspired by the arts.