The Shadow of the Wind

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafón

It is a Spanish novel published in 2001 by the author Carlos Ruiz Zafón. It is considered the first part of The Cemetery of Forgotten Books quartet, which includes, in addition to The Shadow of the Wind, The Angel's Game, The Prisoner of Heaven, and The Labyrinth of the Spirits. All four parts of this quartet have been translated into Arabic. The events of the novel take place in Barcelona in the twentieth century, and how the Cemetery of Books contains a strange book that is hidden from everyone on the pretext that it is a source of evil. In this novel, you will dive into a deep sea, not knowing whether you are drowning or a skilled swimmer. Zafón will not allow you to dispel the events of this novel from your mind as long as you live, and you will not regret it.

The story takes place in the city of Barcelona in the mid-twentieth century, where an elderly man takes his son Daniel to a place called the Cemetery of Books. This place is located in the city center, and only a few know its secret. It was where books that were written but unsuccessful were discarded. It is a custom of this library that whoever enters it must, upon leaving, take a book with them and entrust it with their life. The boy takes the book The Shadow of the Wind, and when he returns home, he begins to read it and is amazed at the existence of this book in a place like that cemetery. He wants to read more books by the author of the book, Julián Carax, but he finds nothing. He searches to find out that a man named Laín Coubert burns all of Julián's books, believing them to be a source of evil or the devil.