The Shadow of the Wind is a Spanish novel by Carlos Ruiz Zafon which takes place in Barcelona in 1950. The protagonist, Daniel Sempre, begins as a 10-year-old boy who goes with his father to a cemetery for books, where he must pick a book to protect. Most of the novel takes place when he is in his mid-teens, drawn into a game of intrigue that involves mystery, arson, and even murder. With a cast of dozens of engaging characters, it weaves them together in unexpected ways.
Zafon was famous for young adult fiction, and this was his first "adult" novel. It's "adult" in its depiction of torture, sex, and death, but it's also a character-driven coming-of-age novel. Daniel makes the typical mistakes of youth but soon, faced with incredible situations, does incredible things. The two antagonists, Francisco Javier Fumero and the mysterious man who burns books, are the real highlight of the novel, as is Daniel's friend and mentor, Fermin Romero de Torres.
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