Awards

• Commended for World Fantasy Convention, special achievement award for translation 2013

Overview

The bestselling author of The Shadow of the Wind takes us back to the shadowy streets of Barcelona and the world of the Sempere and Sons bookshop.  Continuing the story of The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel’s Game, The Prisoner of Heaven leads us to the enigma at the heart of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. It is a mesmerising tale of passion, suspicion and betrayal. It begins just before Christmas in Barcelona in 1957, one year after Daniel and Bea from The Shadow of the Wind have married. They now have a son, Julian, and are living with Daniel's father at Sempere & Sons. Fermin still works with them and is busy preparing for his wedding to Bernarda in the New Year. However something appears to be bothering him. Daniel is alone in the shop one morning when a mysterious figure with a pronounced limp enters. He spots one of their most precious volumes that is kept locked in a glass cabinet, a beautiful and unique illustrated edition of The Count of Monte Cristo. Despite the fact that the stranger seems to care little for books, he wants to buy this expensive edition. Then, to Daniel's surprise, the man inscribes the book with the words 'To Fermín Romero de Torres, who came back from the dead and who holds the key to the future'. This visit leads back to a story of imprisonment, betrayal and the return of a deadly rival.

Full Product Details

9781922079886

Table of Contents

Reviews

'It will entrance and move you and make you chuckle. You couldn't ask for more.' Sunday Age 'Richly written, historically fascinating, always entertaining...and slightly mad.' West Australian 'An unforgettable novel about the forgotten.' Adelaide Advertiser 'The seductions of narrative, for Zafon, are not unlike the allures of erotic love. He actually succeeds in making bookishness sexy.' Weekend Australian 'A big, thrilling romp through glorious Barcelona.' Courier-Mail 'Masterful, meticulous plotting...a love letter to literature, intended for readers as passionate about storytelling as its young hero.' Who Weekly 'Glorious, grandiose fun. It's a haunting, fast-paced thriller with enough twists and turns to hold a Dan Brown fan's attention, enough spookiness to satisfy lovers of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, with grotesques worthy of Dickens and some lovely, evocative writing.' Herald on Sunday 'Carlos is a natural-born storyteller.' Good Reading 'Marvellously evocative.' Sydney Morning Herald 'His enterprise is bold, serious and shocking. His treatment of Spain's tortured history in the 20th century is as significant as his literary skill. These are things that belong not just to one city but to the world.' The Times (UK)

'This is explicitly, and joyously, a book about books, about what can be learned from them (say, how to follow someone in the street), and what is lost when they are lost.' Guardian 'This book is filled with literary allusions, some subtle, some with all the subtlety of the Spanish Inquisition. It is one of the finest examples of magical realism, kindred to everyone from Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel Garcia Marquez to Isabel Allende. This is more than an exhilarating read: This is an experience not to be missed by those with both heart and mind.' Louisville Courier Journal 'Full of stylish writing, Gothic atmosphere and love letters to 19th-century novels.' Washington Post 'A romantic fantasy for book lovers.' Sydney Morning Herald 'A heady atmosphere permeates every page of Carlos Ruiz Zafon's masterly tale...The city comes alive: the ancient stone buildings, the cobblestone streets, the pedestrians as they hurry along in their dark trench coats...A compelling tale of mystery with as many twists as Barcelona's medieval streets, and infused with a love of delightful language and drama.' Weekend Press (NZ) 'Full of warmth and emotion, The Prisoner of Heaven draws on his previous books to move a step further into a remarkable fictional world.' Sunday Star Times 'An unforgettable series that has attracted fans addicted to the tales of the cemetery of lost books.' Illawarra Mercury 'Zafon relishes the conventions of popular fiction flagrantly manipulating stock characters and concealing mysteries inside mysteries-usually inside books. And that's perhaps the most improbable feature of Zafon's (literally) escapist world: here nothing matters to people as much as old books and the secrets they keep. It's a romantic fantasy for book lovers, but in the digital age it answers a nostalgia for dear old paper book that is only going to grow stronger.' Sunday Age/Sun Herald 'The unique inventiveness in the dialogue and the superb stylish writing behind the story are as engaging as ever,' ABC Queensland

Author Information

Carlos Ruiz Zafón was born in Barcelona in 1964 and attended university there. He worked as a screenwriter in Los Angeles for ten years before the publication of his fifth book, The Shadow of the Wind, in 2001. It has been translated into over 40 languages and was a finalist for the Premio Fernando Lara. Ruiz Zafón is now a full-time novelist and regular contributor to the newspapers El País, La Vanguardia and El Mundo. He lives in Barcelona and Los Angeles.

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