The Shadow of the Wind
by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Translated by Lucia Graves)
Publication Date: 2005
Publisher: Penguin Books
Page Count: 487
ISBN: 9780143034902
The past of a curious book and the strange author who wrote it are unraveled in this historical fiction novel set in Barcelona in 1945.
The novel begins with the narrator Daniel Sempere, age 11, at a secret library known as the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. Daniel is brought to the library by his father, a rare-book dealer. Daniel gets immersed in the books immediately and chooses the novel, The Shadow of the Wind, by Julian Carax. The book Daniel finds is an epic tale of a man who deserted Spain during its Civil War and died in Paris later. Daniel begins an obsession with the book for over a decade, growing up and falling in obsessions with three different women. During this time, Daniel also begins to investigate and learn more about Carax and how he was connected to Don Ricardo Aldaya and his family, and why a faceless stranger in his life calls himself Carax's fictional character Lain Coubert. Daniel's search is hampered by Fumero, a police inspector who does not believe Carax is even deceased and builds the climax evermore. Daniel begins to suspect he is far more than just a reader of engrossing novel he found back when he was 11.
This mysterious, enthralling and surprisingly romantic novel will keep readers hooked from page one.
Great review with a solid final line to lure readers in. Full points.
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