Book Log 2020 #18: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Unknown to most people, Barcelona is the home to the Cemetary of Forgotten Books, a labyrinthine (and possibly magical?) library of obscure and abandoned books. A ten year-old Daniel Sempere is taken there by his father, and allowed to take out one book. He chooses The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax, and falls in love with the book after reading it.

Daniel looks for more works by Carax, but finds none. In fact, he learns that his copy of the book may be the only one left, as someone has been buying up copies and burning them. Daniel decides to learn more about Carax and why someone would want to destroy his work. This takes us back to 1919, where a story within the story tells us about Carax and how his life led to someone looking to erase his work forever.

This is the first book in a series, and if the rest of the books live up to this one it'll be well worth reading them all. It's not an easy book to define, as it's at points a mystery, a work of magical realism, and a Gothic novel. But it all works together, creating a higly engaging and atmospheric story.