The Shadow of the Wind. By Carlos Ruiz Zafon. First American Edition, First Printing. Penguin. New York, 2004.

Carlos Ruiz Zafon was a popular Spanish novelist who wrote dark mysteries and young adult novels. He became commercially successful in Spain in the 1990s with several YA novels. In 2001, however, his career ascended to new heights with the publication of his first adult novel: La sombra del viento. It was a bestseller in Spanish and then was translated to English in 2004 under the title The Shadow of the Wind. The novel sold millions of copies worldwide and remains one of the best dark mysteries of the twenty-first century. Its narrative appeals to bibliophiles as well. It features a book dealer protagonist on a mission to uncover the erased history of a great writer, a gloomy warehouse called the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, and a conniving antagonist hell-bent on keeping old crimes covered up. It remains Zafon’s greatest work. For any collector of twenty-first century mysteries, it is an essential volume.

This first American edition, first printing is in fine condition. In the original quarter cloth, fine. Text block fine. In the original dust jacket, very nearly fine with only bumping and soiling to bottom spine end.

A fine first American edition of The Shadow of the Wind.