Zafon, Carlos Ruiz – THE SHADOW OF THE WIND

[LJ Roberts]

THE SHADOW OF THE WIND (Mystery/Novel-Barcelona-1945-1966) -Ex Zafon, Carlos Ruiz
– 1^st adult novel
The Penguin Press, 2004 - Hardcover

10-year-old Daniel Sempere is taken to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books where he is to adopt a single book and promise to keep it alive always. He is drawn to "The Shadow of the Wind." When he finds out that all other copies of the all the author's books have been burned, it becomes a quest for Daniel to find out about the mysterious author, Julian Carax. Over time, Daniel's and Carax's lives become linked in frightening, and sometimes dangerous, ways.

TOP READ OF 2005 - I loved this book! There is humor, sorrow, love, suspense, friendship, tragedy, brutality, revenge, fabulous sense of time and place and a fountain pen that connects the story together through time. The language is flowery, and the pace sometimes slow but I never wanted to put it down. There was a twist I didn't expect yet all the ends are neatly tied into a perfect circle at the end. It's not a traditional mystery, but it is a wonderful book.