Promotional Information

Sales presenter, poster, header

About the Author

CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON was born in Barcelona and is the award-winning author of five books. After Don Quixote, The Shadow of the Wind is the most successful Spanish novel ever, and has sold seven million copies worldwide. It has been translated into over forty languages, received numerous international awards and has been on the bestseller lists of several countries for more than four years.

Reviews

"A sensation across Europe... a page-turning mystery... a coming of age tale... And it's a hymn of praise to all the joys of reading, stylishly caught in Lucia Graves's entrancing translation." -- Boyd Tonkin INDEPENDENT "crowd-pleaser in the mode of The Da Vinci Code... Intertwining playful detective caper, compelling political thriller and sweeping historical romance, the narrative coils back beyond the savagery of the civil war to the world of the tainted Spanish aristocracy, before slowly unravelling the dark secrets born of Franco's tyranny. Zafon's novel... leave the reader with a palpable sense of enchantment." SUNDAY TIMES "This week's book barely needs an introduction. Almost every book group I know about had read The Shadow of the Wind... the book is about a boy who becomes obsessed with an author. It is set in Barcelona during a bloody time in Spain's history and there is, as you would expect from a bestseller, plenty of death, murder, love and heroism." THE TIMES BOOK CLUB "It was only The Da Vinci Code that stopped The Shadow of the Wind from hogging the top of the bestseller charts last year... an astounding critical success. There's an intricate plot, a gothic atmosphere and an elusive quest, as well as murders, intrigue and star-crossed lovers." THE GUARDIAN "a wonderful portrait of Barcelona - not the sunny, culture rich and fun loving city break destination that most visitors know - but a shadowy, at times dark and atmospheric picture of the city centre streets in the years following the Spanish Civil War." LIVING SPAIN "This bewitching novel has all the hallmarks of a classic Holy Grail story complete with mystery, mayhem, romance and labyrinthine plotting. What elevates it above all others in the genre is its emotional energy, making it a richly rewarding read." DAILY MAIL "one of the most engaging, funny, moving, lyrical books" IRISH EXAMINER "The best book I've ever read" -- AMANDA LAMB WOMAN AND HOME "a magical tale of romance" -- CECELIA AHERN SUNDAY EXPRESS "I couldn't put it down but didn't want to rush is as every sentence is beautifully crafted and every character unique." -- SANTA MONTEFIORE EVENING STANDARD "A page turning exploration of obsession in literature and love" SUNDAY EXPRESS "a great thriller" -- CECELIA AHERN MARIE CLAIRE " the main character's deep love for books and their respective, secret libraries" -- CECELIA AHERN IRISH TIMES 'A real page-turner of a mystery that will have you hooked from beginning to end' SPAINSH MAGAZINE

"A sensation across Europe... a page-turning mystery... a coming of age tale... And it's a hymn of praise to all the joys of reading, stylishly caught in Lucia Graves's entrancing translation." -- Boyd Tonkin INDEPENDENT "crowd-pleaser in the mode of The Da Vinci Code... Intertwining playful detective caper, compelling political thriller and sweeping historical romance, the narrative coils back beyond the savagery of the civil war to the world of the tainted Spanish aristocracy, before slowly unravelling the dark secrets born of Franco's tyranny. Zafon's novel... leave the reader with a palpable sense of enchantment." SUNDAY TIMES "This week's book barely needs an introduction. Almost every book group I know about had read The Shadow of the Wind... the book is about a boy who becomes obsessed with an author. It is set in Barcelona during a bloody time in Spain's history and there is, as you would expect from a bestseller, plenty of death, murder, love and heroism." THE TIMES BOOK CLUB "It was only The Da Vinci Code that stopped The Shadow of the Wind from hogging the top of the bestseller charts last year... an astounding critical success. There's an intricate plot, a gothic atmosphere and an elusive quest, as well as murders, intrigue and star-crossed lovers." THE GUARDIAN "a wonderful portrait of Barcelona - not the sunny, culture rich and fun loving city break destination that most visitors know - but a shadowy, at times dark and atmospheric picture of the city centre streets in the years following the Spanish Civil War." LIVING SPAIN "This bewitching novel has all the hallmarks of a classic Holy Grail story complete with mystery, mayhem, romance and labyrinthine plotting. What elevates it above all others in the genre is its emotional energy, making it a richly rewarding read." DAILY MAIL "one of the most engaging, funny, moving, lyrical books" IRISH EXAMINER "The best book I've ever read" -- AMANDA LAMB WOMAN AND HOME "a magical tale of romance" -- CECELIA AHERN SUNDAY EXPRESS "I couldn't put it down but didn't want to rush is as every sentence is beautifully crafted and every character unique." -- SANTA MONTEFIORE EVENING STANDARD "A page turning exploration of obsession in literature and love" SUNDAY EXPRESS "a great thriller" -- CECELIA AHERN MARIE CLAIRE " the main character's deep love for books and their respective, secret libraries" -- CECELIA AHERN IRISH TIMES 'A real page-turner of a mystery that will have you hooked from beginning to end' SPAINSH MAGAZINE

Ruiz Zafon's novel, a bestseller in his native Spain, takes the satanic touches from Angel Heart and stirs them into a bookish intrigue ? la Foucault's Pendulum. The time is the 1950s; the place, Barcelona. Daniel Sempere, the son of a widowed bookstore owner, is 10 when he discovers a novel, The Shadow of the Wind, by Juli n Carax. The novel is rare, the author obscure, and rumors tell of a horribly disfigured man who has been burning every copy he can find of Carax's novels. The man calls himself Lain Coubert-the name of the devil in one of Carax's novels. As he grows up, Daniel's fascination with the mysterious Carax links him to a blind femme fatale with a "porcelain gaze," Clara Barcelo; another fan, a leftist jack-of-all-trades, Fermin Romero de Torres; his best friend's sister, the delectable Beatriz Aguilar; and, as he begins investigating the life and death of Carax, a cast of characters with secrets to hide. Officially, Carax's dead body was dumped in an alley in 1936. But discrepancies in this story surface. Meanwhile, Daniel and Fermin are being harried by a sadistic policeman, Carax's childhood friend. As Daniel's quest continues, frightening parallels between his own life and Carax's begin to emerge. Ruiz Zafon strives for a literary tone, and no scene goes by without its complement of florid, cute and inexact similes and metaphors (snow is "God's dandruff"; servants obey orders with "the efficiency and submissiveness of a body of well-trained insects"). Yet the colorful cast of characters, the gothic turns and the straining for effect only give the book the feel of para-literature or the Hollywood version of a great 19th-century novel. (Apr. 12) Forecast: Appealing packaging (a weathered, antique-look jacket), prepublication bookseller events and an eight-city author tour should give this an early boost, though momentum may flag down the stretch. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.