Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets–an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

My Thoughts: It took me a minute to get into this book, but in a good way. Like the plot was simmering in my head just waiting to boil over. Once it did, I couldn’t put it down. The twists and turns in the plot were fascinating, every single character was amazing and the descriptions were a thing of beauty and oh my gosh the symbolism! The motifs! Last week I reviewed the Orchid House and while that book had an excellent duel storyline going, this is how to do duel story lines right. The way the two tales intertwined was nothing short of amazing. And despite all the heavy coincidence that had to happen to make this plot occur, I never for a second doubted the events in the book. Seriously, given the insanely heavy coincidences that had to happen to make the plot possible, that’s saying a lot about the author. I have nothing to add because there’s nothing more to add. Read the book. It’s incredible.