"This city is a sorceress, you know, Daniel? It gets under
your skin and steals your soul without you knowing it."
You can easily guess the name of the city described above: Barcelona, of course. The quote is taken by a novel I've read some years ago - and again and again over the years, The Shadow of the Wind, written by the Barcelonian writer Carlos Ruiz Zafón in 2001. The novel has quickly become a worldwide bestseller, and it has sold 15 000 000 copies all around the world.
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| The Shadow of the Wind |
The story unfolds in Barcelona, in 1945: on one cold morning, a librarian brings is only child, Daniel, to visit the Cemetery of the Lost Books, hidden in the gloomy alleys of El Raval. The librarian wants his child to adopt a book, hidden in one of the old library's shelves, and Daniel chooses La Sombra del Viento by the unknown artist Julián Carax.
Daniel is enchanted by the book, the first one that has stolen his heart:
"Few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart. Those first images, the echo of words we think we have left behind, accompany us throughout our lives and sculpt a palace in our memory to which, sooner or later - no matter how many books we read, how many worlds we discover or how much we learn or forget - we will return".
He decided to inquire into Julián Carax mysterious life, incapable of understanding why nobody knows the talented author. The plot follows Daniel's investigation over Julián's life, bringing to light a bleak, long story that has been buried within the depths of oblivion, unmentionable secrets and obsessive romances, surrounded by the horrors of the Spanish Civil War - which is over during the narration, but revived through flashbacks and the characters' memories.
The novel's genre is difficult to define: Bildungsroman - since the novel is shaped on Daniel's personal growth, noir and, above all, gothic, because of its gloomy atmospheres and its light and dark contrasts.
Regardless of its literary value, I suggest you this novel because of the setting, too. Reading it, you will explore Barcelona's barrios and travel across the city. In the following map, the crucial spots of the novel are listed.
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| The Shadow of the Wind walking tour |
In conclusion, if you are searching for an interesting, exciting and intriguing novel about this beautiful city, you definitely have to read The Shadow of the Wind, which the Daily Telegraph describes this way:
"The Shadow of the Wind is a triumph of the storyteller's art. I couldn't put it down. Enchanting, hilarious and hearthbreaking, this book will change your life".
No review could depict it better.
Carlotta Neuenschwander
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