I loved this book. I have been meaning to reading it for the longest time; picking it up from Oxfam and on our shelf it sat untouched for months. My mum had recommended it to me (one of the few people I trust judgement of novels on.)
"If you thought the gothic novel died with the 19th century, this will change your mind... in Zafon's hands, every scene seems to come from an early Orson Welles movie... one gorgeous read." Stephen King
Hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is the 'cemetery of books', a labyrinthine library of obscure and forgotten titles... to this library, a man brings his 10 year old son, Daniel, on cold morning in 1945. He chooses one book which is 'La Sonbra del Viento' by Julian Carax... When he is older, Daniel is approached by a figure who reminds him of a character from the story, a character who turns out to be the devil. This man is tracking down every last copy of Carax' work and burning it. What begins as a case of literary curiosity turns into a race to find the truth behijnd the life and death of Julian Carax and to save those he left behind.
Mr Chartwell was the July pick for my work's book club. It was well-written and unique but not necessarily a book I would have picked myself.
A remarkable debut. These are some of the best evocations of depression you'll read (Observer)
July 1964. In bed at his home in Kent, Winston Chruchill is waking up. There's a visitor in the room, someone he hasn't seen for a while, a dark, mute bulk, watching him with tortured concentration. It's Mr Chartwell. Why has he come to visit? For Mr Chartwell is a huge, black dog.
