The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon: book review

The Shadow of the Wind (2001, English version 2015) is set in Barcelona, Spain. It begins in 1945 and ends in 1966.

Daniel Sempere’s father is a bookseller. When Daniel is old enough, at the age of ten, at five o’clock in the morning, his father takes him to the secret Cemetery of Forgotten Books to choose only one to cherish for all of his days. Daniel chooses The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax, published in Paris in 1936, a year after Daniel was born. He is sworn to secrecy, never to tell anyone about the secret cemetery and the secret task to keep one book alive.

Daniel and his father live in a small apartment above his father’s bookshop. Daniel begins to research the mysterious author of his newly-chosen book by visiting other booksellers in Barcelona. He learns that his book is the only copy—the rest were burned.

To learn more, Daniel turns to the blind woman, Clara Barcelo, aged in her early twenties, an expert on Julian Carax. The story dates back to the streets of Paris from 1919. But there is only so much that Clara knows.

In 1950, when Daniel is 16, people learn that he has the only copy of a special book. People want it—by fair means, or foul.

In his twenties, Daniel learns that there are numerous versions of Carax’s life, and now Daniel wants the truth. With his friends Tomas and Fermin, Daniel tries to separate fact from fiction. He also wants to know whether the book itself is semi-autobiographical.

Tales of love, mysterious disappearances, murder, secrets, and the shadowy world of Paris, lead Daniel closer and closer to the tragic truth.

This is a tale with twists and turns in the plot that keep readers interested right to the end.

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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