“The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon – The Power of Imagination

Unfortunately, unlike many of us are taught, once the Second World War came to an end, the fighting took a lot longer to cease in certain regions of the world.

This goes more for Spain than anywhere else as even though the Spanish Civil War had officially come to an end, people of both sides were still at each other’s throats.

Growing up as a kid in such a climate can be very hard for lack of a strong and developed psyche. In Shadow of the Wind, written by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and translated by Lucia Graves, we are told the story of a little boy growing up in Barcelona in 1945, and his love for books.

More precisely, with his father working as a book antiquarian, Daniel doesn’t have trouble finding books to read. One day, The Shadow of the Wind, written by Julian Carax draws his attention. As he reads through the book he somewhat falls in love with the author’s style and tries to seek out more of his works.

However, he slowly begins to discover that every single copy of his books have been systematically destroyed, and the one he is holding in his hand may very well be the last one on Earth.

As such, Daniel gets increasingly closer to a dark and terrible secret the city has hidden from its inhabitants, taking us on a rollercoaster filled with madness, murder and unstoppable doom.

Those who are going to be reading this book for the story will be in for quite a treat. While it starts off very small, it quickly sprouts as a flower and the closer you get to the end, the greater it blossoms. You will hardly be able to divert your attention as every chapter will be more intense and intriguing than the last.

However, there is much more to this book than a boy trying to find out a terrible secret. Part of it is, in my opinion, a meditation of escapism and how much of a powerful tool it can be, especially for young and fragile minds, such as Daniel.

In addition, as many authors like to do, Carlos Ruiz Zafon also takes the chance to value books and the good they can bring to mankind, demonstrating it first-hand on Daniel.

All in all, it is a thrilling, fast-paced and yet still thought-provoking book I would recommend to anyone who likes a solid mystery.

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Carl Ruiz Zafon  Personal site Carl Ruiz Zafon is a Spanish novelist whose first work, El Principe de la Niebla (The Prince of Mist) earned him the Edebe literary prize for young adult fiction. His subsequent novels, which included El palacio de la medianoche and Marina have eventually earned Zafon the the honor of being the most successful contemporary Spanish author, with his books having been published in over 45 countries and translated in 40 languages.