La sombra del viento
First US edition
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| Author | Carlos Ruiz Zafón |
|---|---|
| Original title | La sombra del viento |
| Country | Spain |
| Language | Spanish |
| Series | Cemetery of Forgotten Books |
| Genre | Mystery |
| Publisher |
Planeta (Spain) Penguin Books (USA) Weidenfeld & Nicolson & Orion Books (UK) |
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Publication date
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2001 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| Pages | 565 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 68085235 |
| Followed by | The Angel's Game |
The Shadow of the Wind (Spanish: La sombra del viento) is a 2001 novel by Spanish writer Carlos Ruiz Zafón and a worldwide bestseller. The book was translated into English in 2004 by Lucia Graves and sold over a million copies in the UK after already achieving success on mainland Europe, topping the Spanish bestseller lists for weeks. It was published in the United States by Penguin Books and in Great Britain by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and Orion Books. It is believed to have sold 15 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling books of all time.
Ruiz Zafón's follow-up, The Angel's Game, is a prequel to The Shadow of the Wind. It was published in Spanish in April 2008 by Planeta and then acquired by Weidenfeld & Nicolson; Lucia Graves published a hardback English edition in June 2009. The Angel's Game is set in Barcelona during the 1920s and 1930s and follows a young writer who is approached by a mysterious figure to write a book.
The novel, set in Barcelona in the period following the Spanish Civil War, concerns a young boy, Daniel Sempere. Just after the war, Daniel's father takes him to the secret Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a huge library of old, forgotten titles lovingly preserved by a select few initiates. According to tradition, everyone initiated to this secret place is allowed to take one book from it and must protect it for life. Daniel selects a book called The Shadow of the Wind by Julián Carax. That morning he takes the book home and reads it, completely engrossed. Daniel then attempts to look for other books by this unknown author but can find none. All he comes across are stories of a strange man—calling himself Laín Coubert, after a character in the book who happens to be the Devil—who has been seeking out Carax's books for decades, buying and burning them all.
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Wikipedia