The Duchess of Alba, known as Goya's muse, recalls the passions of youth on her deathbed in the royal court of eighteenth-century Madrid. A young woman defies the protocols of her arranged marriage and pursues loveand the life of a published writeruntil her readers condemn her as a danger to society in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Nina Berberova escapes persecution during the Russian Revolution and flees to Paris, where the intelligentsia naively covet the promise of a Soviet Union. These three women attempt to find passion and intimacy in worlds that rarely accommodate female desire. Goya's Glassis an unforgettable novel of guilty pleasures coursing through history. Monika Zgustovawas born in Prague and lives in Barcelona, Spain. She has published seven books, including novels, short stories, a play, and a biography. Her novel The Silent Womanwas a runner-up for the National Award for the Novel, given by the Spanish Ministry of Culture. Zgustova has also received the Ciutat de Barcelona and the Merce Rodoreda awards in Spain, and the Gratias Agit Award given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Prague. She has translated more than fifty books of Russian and Czech fiction and poetry, including the works of Milan Kundera and Vaclav Havel, into both Spanish and Catalan.