Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Spanish novelist and scriptwriter Carlos Ruiz Zafón (1964- ) is best known for his novel The Shadow of the Wind (La sombra del viento), which has recived critical aclaim around the world.

Sworn to secrecy, ten-year old Daniel is taken by his father to the Cemetry of Forgotten Books, a labyrinthine library for obscure and forgotten books hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona. Daniel is allowed to choose and take away one book. A book he has to cherish and look after for life. He picks The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax. What he does not antcipate is that his choice will lead to unwanted attention.

Although published to critical aclaim, The Shadow of the Wind received widespread criticism in Catalonia for being written in Spanish not Catalan.

The Shadow of the Wind is set in Barcelona where Carlos Ruiz Zafón grew up. One reader, Joakim Roubert, has produced a set of maps showing the locations in the book. Better would be pictures of the locations, better still, pictures or postcards from the time in which the novel is set.

I have registered The Shadow of the Wind as a BookCrossing book. [see BCID 5422540]

BookCrossing books are released into the wild and their progress tracked through the Internet via a unique Book Crossing ID (BCID).


Literature
(c) Keith Parkins 2007 -- September 2007 rev 0