In the Barcelona of 1980, Óscar Drai daydreams, dazzled by the modernist palaces near the boarding school where he studies. On one of his escapades he meets Marina, a daring girl who shares with Oscar the adventure of delving into a painful enigma of the city's past. A mysterious post-war character set himself the greatest challenge imaginable, but his ambition dragged him down sinister paths, the consequences of which someone must still pay today. (DeepL translation, checked by user)
(Translator: DeepL)
Gothic thriller in Barcelona
I was attracted to this book for two reasons. I loved The Shadow of the Wind by the same author which I’d read in English, and it’s a young adult novel, so I hoped it would be more approachable as a learner.
I was happy on both counts. It quickly establishes a similar style to Shadow of the Wind. Barcelona forms a stunning backdrop to the story, and it is written in beautiful prose, but at the level I would hope for in a YA novel.
From the cover of my edition I hadn’t expected this to be quite the gothic thriller that it turned out to be. A genre which perfectly suited its Barcelona backdrop!