The Shadow of the Wind: Barcelona Noir

Books set in Spain The Shadow of the Wind book review

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón is a fast-paced, all-consuming read. It may be quite lengthy, but the plot will have you gripped until the very last page. Part crime novel, part Gothic Noir, part Dickensian tale and part coming-of-age story, The Shadow of the Wind is many things, but Ruiz Zafón‘s writing flows so easily you’ll read into the small hours without noticing.

The Barcelona in this book is a far cry from the crowded, over-touristy seaside city we’re more familiar with. Still reeling from the dark memory of the Spanish Civil War, this Barcelona is mysterious, cold and dangerous, filled with crumbling haunted mansions, a seedy underbelly and corrupt police.

The story starts when a young boy, Daniel, is taken by his bookseller father to pick himself a book from the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. This seemingly endless underground labyrinth houses all the books that have been forgotten about. Daniel is drawn to a novel called The Shadow of the Wind. Once he chooses this book, he must become its guardian. As Daniel innocently starts enquiring about the life of the mysterious author, Julián Carax, he unravels a tale of tragedy and becomes ensnared in a frightening web of scandal.

In rescuing this book from obscurity, Daniel hastens the gritty storyline of the book’s elusive author to its final denouement. But, will this cost Daniel everything in the world he’s ever loved? Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind is as much an ode to the art of storytelling as it is a good story in itself.

“The art of reading is slowly dying, it’s an intimate ritual, a book is a mirror that offers us only what we already carry inside us, when we read, we do it with all our heart and mind, and great readers are becoming more scarce by the day.”
― Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind