An A to Z of English history (Medieval to Regency)
‘The Cemetery of Forgotten Books’ series by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
23rd August 2024
The five books of the series in chronological order are:
The Shadow of the Wind
It is Barcelona, 1945, post war, and a boy, Daniel awakes and can no longer remember his Mother’s face. Daniel’s widowed father, who deals in antiquarian books, introduces him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books – each book waiting for someone to care for them. From an overwhelming choice, Daniel chooses The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax and then goes on a quest to find the rest of Carax’s work. However, he discovers that someone has been destroying every work of his and that his own book may well be one of the only works by Carax in existence. He is drawn to a world of other worldliness, love and madness and it becomes clear he has to find out more about Carax before his own family is engulfed by the scary world he has entered.
The Angel’s Game
In an abandoned mansion in the heart of Barcelona, a young man, David Martín, makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. The survivor of a troubled childhood, he spends his nights spinning baroque tales about the city’s underworld. But perhaps his dark imaginings are not as strange as they seem, for in a locked room deep within the house lie photographs and letters hinting at an unsolved mystery.
Like a slow poison, the history of the place and an impossible love bring David close to despair. But then he receives a letter from a reclusive French editor who makes him the offer of a lifetime . . .
The Prisoner of Heaven
THE PRISONER OF HEAVEN returns to the world of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books and the Sempere & Sons bookshop.
It begins just before Christmas in Barcelona in 1957, one year after Daniel and Bea from THE SHADOW OF THE WIND have married. They now have a son, Julian, and are living with Daniel’s father at Sempere & Sons. Fermin still works with them and is busy preparing for his wedding to Bernarda in the New Year. However something appears to be bothering him.
Daniel is alone in the shop one morning when a mysterious figure with a pronounced limp enters. He spots one of their most precious volumes that is kept locked in a glass cabinet, a beautiful and unique illustrated edition of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO. Despite the fact that the stranger seems to care little for books, he wants to buy this expensive edition. Then, to Daniel’s surprise, the man inscribes the book with the words ‘To Fermin Romero de Torres, who came back from the dead and who holds the key to the future’. This visit leads back to a story of imprisonment, betrayal and the return of a deadly rival …
The Labyrinth of the Spirits
As a child, Daniel Sempere discovered among the passageways of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books an extraordinary novel that would change the course of his life. Now a young man in the Barcelona of the late 1950s, Daniel runs the Sempere & Sons bookshop and enjoys a seemingly fulfilling life with his loving wife and son. Yet the mystery surrounding the death of his mother continues to plague his soul despite the moving efforts of his wife Bea and his faithful friend Fermín to save him.
Just when Daniel believes he is close to solving this enigma, a conspiracy more sinister than he could have imagined spreads its tentacles from the hellish regime. That is when Alicia Gris appears, a soul born out of the nightmare of the war. She is the one who will lead Daniel to the edge of the abyss and reveal the secret history of his family, although at a terrifying price.
The Labyrinth of the Spirits is an electrifying tale of passion, intrigue and adventure. Within its haunting pages Carlos Ruiz Zafón masterfully weaves together plots and subplots in an intricate and intensely imagined homage to books, the art of storytelling and that magical bridge between literature and our lives.
The City of Mist
A boy decides to become a writer when he discovers that his creative gifts capture the attentions of an aloof young beauty who has stolen his heart.
A labyrinth maker flees Constantinople to a plague ridden Barcelona, with plans for building a library impervious to the destruction of time.
A strange gentleman tempts Cervantes to write a book like no other, each page of which could prolong the life of the woman he loves.
And a brilliant Catalan architect named Antoni Gaudí reluctantly agrees to cross the ocean to New York, a voyage that will determine the fate of an unfinished masterpiece.
Enjoy your books in The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series…
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