Novel Travels: The Shadow of the Wind

Barcelona again. I guess that city just inspires artists and writers. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon is a thriller for book lovers. Young Daniel takes a book by Julián Carax from the Cemetery of Forgotten Books and becomes obsessed with finding other books by the author, but finds they are being burned by an unknown person. His determination to get to the bottom of the mystery will threaten his life.

Characters in the novel travel up, down, and around Barcelona, making it a pretty good book to read before visiting the city. La Rambla, Montjuic, Santa Maria del Mar ... it's all here.

Two things I should mentions. 1) The Shadow of the Wind portrays Barcelona as a dark and shadowy place. A place where people follow you without reason. The city I visited was bright and colorful. Although we did get pick pocketed. 2) In the novel, it seems to constantly rain or snow. I visited Barcelona in January and the weather was wonderful.


List of places in the book. Another list, but with a map.