Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer's son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author's other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax's books in existence. Soon Daniel's seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets-an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.
***
[I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time]***
(Phoenix Press, 5 October 2005, first published 2001, paperback, 520 pages, Around the Year in 52 Books 2019, a book related to one of the elements or the periodic table of elements, bought from @OxfamScotland)
***
***
This is the kind of book that slowly lures you under a spell, it reels your heart in and refuses to let go until you reach the end. The book is engrossing, a gothic mystery about literature, love, loss and madness caused by grief and some good versus evil thrown in for good measure. The book took a while to get into. I struggled to get through the first chunk but gradually started to fall in love with the mystery, the strange characters and the rich language. This isn't a book you can just dip in and out of when you have a spare few minutes. You need to focus on the book. Daniel and the mysterious Julián live identical parallel lives. I enjoyed seeing this unfold. I also loved the fact the book is set in Barcelona. I've never read fiction set there before and the prose really brings the city to life. This is a dense, quite heavy book and not for everyone but I enjoyed being lost in it for a while.
