The Shadow of the Wind

Zafon, Carlos Ruiz; Lucia Graves (Translator)

ISBN 10: 1594200106 / ISBN 13: 9781594200106

Published by The Penguin Press, New York, 2004

About this Item

SIGNED. 486pp. Large octavo [24 cm] 1/4 maroon with dark green paper covered boards, a gilt stamped title on the spine, and the author's initials stamped in gilt on the front cover. Marbled endsheets. The head of the spine is just a bit bruised, and the spine is just a hair rolled back. Signed by Zafon on the title page. A signed first American edition of Zafon's first novel, and a worldwide bestseller. Seller Inventory # 62359

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Shadow of the Wind

Publisher: The Penguin Press, New York

Publication Date: 2004

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very good

Dust Jacket Condition: near fine

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: First American edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

Barcelona, 1945--just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and 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 child, Daniel's widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona's guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again. Daniel's father coaxes him to choose a volume from the spiraling labyrinth of shelves, one that, it is said, will have a special meaning for him. And Daniel so loves the novel he selects, The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax, that he sets out to find the rest of Carax's work. To his shock, he discovers that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book this author has written. In fact, he 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 secrets, an epic story of murder, magic, madness and doomed love. And before long he realizes that if he doesn't find out the truth about Julian Carax, he and those closest to him will suffer horribly.

As with all astounding novels, The 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 end, as with all astounding novels, no 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 mystery, a heart-piercing romance, and a moving homage to the mystical power of books, The Shadow of the Wind is a triumph of the storyteller's art.

Review:

"...[T]here is no question that Wind is wondrous.... [M]asterful, meticulous plotting and extraordinary control over language.... The Shadow of the Wind is ultimately a love letter to literature, intended for readers as passionate about storytelling as its young hero." --Entertainment Weekly

"The Shadow of the Wind will keep you up nights--and it'll be time well spent. Absolutely marvelous." --Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)