In this, the third volume of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, centre stage is taken by young Daniel Sempere, son of the proprietor of Sempere & Sons bookshop in Barcelona, and his older friend, Fermin Romero de Torres, who helps out there.
It is 1957, Christmas time, when business should be booming, but Daniel is on his own in the shop when a grim old man, cloaked and disfigured, enters. He makes an expensive purchase but instead of taking it away, he leaves it for Fermin Romero de Torres inscribed with a cryptic message.
The message is a link to the past, to 1939 and the aftermath of the civil war, when the young Fermin is detained in horrific conditions at the Montjuic fortress. Also imprisoned there is famous (or notorious) author Daniel Martin, the main character from the previous volume – The Angel’s Game - who is now somewhat crazed. Fermin befriends Martin and learns of the hold that the prison governor has over the writer, which concerns a threat to a his (Martin’s) young friend, Isabella Sempere, and her young son, Daniel.
The dark story of Fermin’s past imprisonment and attempted escape from Montjuic is alternated with the more light-hearted present. Even there, there are difficulties. Daniel is unsure of his wife’s fidelity and Fermin’s plan to marry his own sweetheart has obstacles connected to his past.
Fermin’s breezy tone permeates the narrative and makes for mainly easy reading, with the plot less labyrinthine than in previous volumes. The characters of Daniel, and particularly Fermin, shine through and while Fermin gets some closure, Daniel has unfinished business by the end.
Presumably, that is dealt with in the fourth
and final volume of the series, thankfully, completed by Zafon in 2016, well before
his death earlier this year.
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