Uncorrected Proof. 8vo. Pp. [vi], 403. Illustrated wraps. Translated from the Spanish by Lucia Graves. Originally published in 2001 by Editorial Planeta, S.A., Barcelona, as La Sombra del Viento.
Ruiz Zafón's debut novel. 2005 Barry Award Winner for Best First Novel. The second most successful Spanish novel after Cervantes' Don Quixote, having sold over 15 million copies worldwide. Author's 2008 follow-up, The Angel's Game, is a prequel to The Shadow of the Wind. While the third in the series, The Prisoner of Heaven (2011), is the sequel to it. The series was bookended by The Labyrinth of Spirits (2016).
A biblio-mystery set in post-World War II Barcelona, in which a young boy is coaxed by his widowed father to select a book from a library called the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, and save it from oblivion. On setting out to trace the author's remaining output, after being captivated by his find, The Shadow of the Wind by Julián Carax, Daniel realizes that someone has been systematically destroying the writer's oeuvre, and that his may be the last surviving copy. "A popular masterpiece, an instant classic." –The Daily Telegraph