A haunting book about a book. Set in Barcelona in the 1950’s, the central character is Daniel, a boy whose father owns an antiquarian book store. He spends years looking for a book called Shadow of the Wind by a mysterious one-book author named Julian Carax. He finds that every copy of the book has been systematically destroyed. Daniel sets out to solve the convoluted mystery. The most delightful character, Fermin, is the assistant in the book store and some of his lines and thoughts are laugh-out-loud funny. The story, however, is spooky and anything but funny.
This may be my favorite book of all time, or perhaps it’s tied with Perfume, by Patrick Suskind
Tags: Books