The Shadow of the Wind

Barcelona,1945—just after the wara great world city lies in shadownursing its woundsand a boy named Daniel awakes on his eleventh birthday to find that he can no longer remember his mother’s face. To console his only childDaniel’s widowed fatheran antiquarian book dealerinitiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Booksa library tended by Barcelona’s guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the worldwaiting for someone who will care about them again. Daniel’s father coaxes him to choose a volume from the spiraling labyrinth of shelvesone thatit is saidwill have a special meaning for him. And Daniel so loves the novel he selectsThe Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Caraxthat he sets out to find the rest of Carax’s work. To his shockhe discovers that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book this author has written. In facthe may have the last one in existence. Before Daniel knows it his seemingly innocent quest has opened a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secretsan epic story of murdermagicmadness and doomed love. And before long he realizes that if he doesn’t find out the truth about Julian Caraxhe and those closest to him will suffer horribly. As with all astounding novelsThe Shadow of the Wind sends the mind groping for comparisons —The Crimson Petal and the White? The novels of Arturo Pérez-Reverte? Of Victor Hugo? Love in the Time of Cholera?—but in the endas with all astounding novelsno comparison can suffice. As one leading Spanish reviewer wrote“The originality of Ruiz Zafón’s voice is bombproof and displays a diabolical talent. The Shadow of the Wind announces a phenomenon in Spanish literature.” An uncannily absorbing historical mysterya heart-piercing romanceand a moving homage to the mystical power of booksThe Shadow of the Wind is a triumph of the storyteller’s art.