The Shadow of the Wind

"Hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is the "Cemetery of Forgotten Books", a labyrinthine library of obscure and forgotten titles," reads the blurb on the back of Carlos Ruiz Zafon's novel:"The Shadow of the Wind." As life imitates art, I also have gone to my shelves of forgotten books, and chosen the same title as the protagonist Daniel. However, since the various reviews on the inside cover describe this novel as ingenious, entertaining, compulsive and downright unforgettable, it is ironic that it has ended up gathering dust in my library!

Daniel's whole existence is saturated with books.  He and his father live above the family's second-hand bookshop, "an enchanted bazaar" in old Barcelona, handed down from his grandfather, and destined to be his own one day. "I was raised among books, making invisible friends in pages that seemed cast from dust and whose smell I carry on my hands to this day." Being an only child, like Daniel, and with older parents, I could recognise these childhood friends immediately.  The smell of dusty or pristine pages, and the feel of a physical book in one's hands is something that an e-reader simply cannot replicate. (Music-lovers would say likewise the joy of pouring over the artwork and sleeve of a classic vinyl album versus an iPad/MP3 experience.)

Early one morning, when a ten year old Daniel wakes up screaming, because he can no longer remember his dead mother's face, his father decides that it is time to introduce him to the mysterious Cemetery of Forgotten Books. It presents as a type of bibliophile's Gringotts: a secretive, magical basilica of books graced by "impossible geometry," and staffed by hardcore members of the secondhand booksellers' guild. Whenever a library disappears or a bookshop closes down, these guardians ensure that the books are not consigned to oblivion. In fact, it strikes me that the ladies in my local book exchange are providing a similar service to our town, in making sure that somebody's unwanted books, never end up in landfill, but have a new life being shared around other readers. The only difference is, that it is housed in a tatty, former Superdrug store, with ramshackle shelving in a dingy shopping centre, surrounded by Pound Shops and empty units. Zafron's version is more picturesque, tucked away just off the Ramblas, with ancient fixtures and fittings, frescoes, marble staircases, and a whiff of the sanctuary about it.

His father informs him that " According to tradition, the first time someone visits this place, he must choose a book, (I got three at the book exchange!), whichever he wants, and adopt it, making sure that it will never disappear, that it will always stay alive." Daniel chooses "The Shadow of the Wind" by Julian Carax, or quite possibly the book chooses him, as the ring chose Bilbo. He himself feels certain that the book had been waiting there for him for years, since before he was born. Once he has this book in his possession, his life becomes inexorably bound up in the mystery of Carax's identity and fate, with the suspense building layer upon layer, in a dance of shadows.

I was enchanted by Zafon's evocation of Barcelona in the aftermath of the Civil War, struggling with the legacy of those tumultuous days. We see its glorious architecture, and its seedy back-street quarters, and feel the fear and mistrust of its ordinary citizens towards those in power, particularly the corrupt and evil Police Chief, Fumero, and his henchmen.

However, there is humour in abundance too, and I especially loved the rather florid character of Daniel's bookshop colleague, Fermin Romero de Torres, a noble rogue, who definitely has the funniest and best lines in the book.

It is hard to pigeon-hole this novel, which has been described variously as " thriller, historical fiction, occasional farce, existential mystery and passionate love story." It definitely has aspects of all of these! As the mystery man Julian Carax observes:"Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you."