Carlos Ruiz Zafon was born in Barcelona in 1964 and is the award-winning author of five books. His novels have been translated into twent-six languages and have sold two million copies all over the world .
" Shadow is the real deal, a novel full of cheesy splendour and creaking trapdoors, a novel where even the subplots have subplots ... one gorgeous read. " - Stephen King
" What makes this novel so irrestibly readable is the emotional energy generated by the ups and downs of a big and varied cast of memorable characters ... Walk down any street in Zafons Barcelona and you ll glimpse the shades of the past and the secrets of the present, inscribed alike in the city s material fabric and the lives of the citizens. Exuberant, larger than life in their tragedies as in their joys and desires, they are irrepressible: no dictatorship can keep them down " - Guardian
" Good pold-fashioned narrative is back in fashion ... his tale a dramatic tension that so many contemporary novels today seem to lack . This is highly sophisticated, fun reading that keeps you gripped and tests the brain cells all at the same time. What more coul you ask for ? " - Scotsman
" Zafon makes sure trere s a robust serving of amor, and enought magic, murder and madness to keep even the most reluvtant reader engrossed. Diabolically good " - Elle
" Carlos Ruiz Zafon s wonderfully chock-a-block novel The Shadow of the Wind starts with the search for a mysterious author in Barcelona in the aftermath of the Civil War and then packs in as many plots and the characters as it does genres - Ghotic melodrama, coming-of-age story, historical thriller and more. It is a deeply satisfying, rich, full read " - Michael Prodger, Sunday Telegraph
" Everthing about The Shadow of the Wind is smooth. The language purrs along, while the plot twists and unravels with a languid grace... Zafon s novel is atmospheric, beguiling and thoroughly readable " - Observer
" Set in the author s native Barcelona in the Years after the Spanish Civil War, this gripping novel has the feel of a ghotic ghost story, complete with crumbling, ivy-covered mansions, gargoyles and dank prison cells ... This is just the sort of literary mystery that would have found favour with Wilkie Collins " - Daily Mail
" This epic novel spent two years on the Spanish bestseller list. It s easy to see why ... Zafon s is planning to write another three books around the same theme, and if they keep the pulse pumping and the pages turning as reliably as this fantastic piece of fiction, he will have a publishing phenomenon on this hans " - Sunday Herald
