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First of all to understand this book you have to understand the setting. Barcelona is Spain's second city, but it is also the heart and soul of Catalonia. Under Franco, to be to even attempt to be Catalan, was to risk all and very very often loose all as well. The "un" Civil war in Spain pitted Ultra-conservative Castile against everyone else, and all the movements to allow greater autonomy for the provinces, were ground under the heal of the Phalanges party. Thus the very real menace of the Guarda Civil was real for those people in the Basque region, Catalonia, Galicia and the other regions of Spain. Sad to say even today, the Castilian disdain for the outer provinces is still there; my daughter-in-law, can find nothing good to say about the city she and my son live in (Barcelona)when in comparison to Madrid, where she was born and raised. But if you can remember the era in which the story is set and the fascist regime under which people had to exist, then a lot of the Shadow of the Wind makes sense.

Yes, absolutely. That's what made the book so special. It's also why I kept reading Angel's Game even though I found it horrifying.

I suspected as I read The Shadow of the Wind for the first time that Ruiz Zafon knew the history of the city intimately. It is to his credit that by setting scene in that terrible era in Spain he was able to create such a fascinating Literary book.
In creating Fermin Romero de Torres, however, he stumbled upon one of the most endearing characters in modern literary history IMHO. Now, with the release of The Prisoner of Heaven, we finally learn the real, in-depth history of this remarkable, lovable man. It all makes sense, and beautifully so.