The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Friday book group is meeting at 10:30 a.m. on September 4 to discuss The Shadow of the Wind, a gothic coming of age story which revolves around a novel written by a Julian Carax. Daniel, the son of a bookseller, discovers the only remaining copy of this book in 1945 in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books (the guildhall of the secondhand-booksellers of Barcelona). The insidious Inspector Fumero and the diabolical Lain Coubert will do anything to stop Daniel from learning more about Julian Carax's life and his mysterious death.

This site has a description of a walking tour of places in Barcelona mentioned in The Shadow of the Wind; if you'd rather look at photos of the places, check out this Google map (click on the blue markers to see the photos).

ReadingGroupGuides.com has posted the publisher's discussion questions for The Shadow of the Wind.

The Telegraph has an interesting interview with Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

To visualize the Spanish Civil War better, check out Cary Nelson's photoessay.

To learn about the three books that will follow The Shadow of the Wind, check out Carlos Ruiz Zafon's web site.