The Prisoner of Heaven (Cemetery of Lost Books series 3)
Carlos Ruiz Zafon, 2012
HarperCollins
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062206299
Summary
Barcelona, 1957
it is Christmas, and Daniel Sempere and his wife, Bea, have much to celebrate.
They have a beautiful new baby son named Julian, and their close friend Fermin Romero de Torres is about to be wed. But their joy is eclipsed when a mysterious stranger visits the Sempere bookshop and threatens to divulge a terrible secret that has been buried for two decades in the city's dark past.
His appearance plunges Fermín and Daniel into a dangerous adventure that will take them back to the 1940s and the early days of Franco's dictatorship. The terrifying events of that time launch them on a search for the truth that will put into peril everything they love, and will ultimately transform their lives. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—September 25, 1964
• Where—Barcelona, Spain
• Awards—Edebe Children's Literary Award, Best Novel, 1993
• Currently—lives in Barcelona and Los Angeles, California, USA
Carlos Ruiz Zafon is a Spanish novelist. His first novel, El Príncipe de la Niebla (The Prince of Mist, 1993), earned the Edebe literary prize for young adult fiction. He is also the author of three more young adult novels, El Palacio de la Medianoche (1994), Las Luces de Septiembre (1995) and Marina (1999). The English version of El Príncipe de la Niebla was published in 2010.
In 2001 he published the novel La Sombra del Viento (The Shadow of the Wind), his first "adult" novel, which has sold millions of copies worldwide. Since its publication, La Sombra del Viento has garnered critical acclaim around the world and has won many international awards. His next novel, El Juego del Angel, was published in April 2008. The English edition, The Angel's Game, is translated by Lucia Graves, daughter of the poet Robert Graves. It is a prequel to The Shadow of the Wind, also set in Barcelona, but during the 1920s and 1930s. It follows (and is narrated by) David Martin, a young writer who is approached by a mysterious figure to write a book. Ruiz Zafon intends it to be included in a four book series along with The Shadow of the Wind. The Third book in the cycle, El Prisionero del Cielo, appeared in 2011, and was published in English in 2012 as The Prisoner of Heaven.
Ruiz Zafon's works have been published in 45 countries and have been translated into more than 50 different languages. According to these figures, Ruiz Zafon is the most successful contemporary Spanish writer (along with Javier Sierra and Juan Gomez-Jurado). Influences on Ruiz Zafon's work have included 19th century classics, crime fiction, noir authors and contemporary writers.
Apart from books, another large influence comes in the form of films and screenwriting. He says in interviews that he finds it easier to visualize scenes in his books in a cinematic way, which lends itself to the lush worlds and curious characters he creates. (From Wikipedia.)
Extras
From a 2005 Barnes & Noble interview:
• In my tender youth I worked as a musician (composer, arranger and keyboard player/synthesizer programmer, record producer, etc.) and I've also labored for seven long years in the advertising jungle as a cynical mercenary, first as a copywriter, then a creative director (whatever that means) and also producing/directing TV commercials and polluting the world with artifacts glorifying Visa, Audi, Sony, Volkswagen, American Express, and many other evil entities. In 1992, when the lease on my soul was about to expire, I quit to become what I always wanted to do, be a full-time writer. Since then, I've published five novels and also have worked occasionally as a screenwriter.
• I am a curious creature and put my finger in as many cakes as I can: history, film, technology, etc. I'm also a freak for urban history, particularly Barcelona, Paris and New York. I know more weird stuff about 19th-century Manhattan than is probably healthy.
• There are two things that I cannot live without: music and books. Caffeine isn't dignified enough to qualify.
• When asked what authors most influenced his career as a writer, here is his response:
Charles Dickens and all of the 19th-century giants. (From Barnes & Noble.)
Book Reviews
[A novel] with the blissful narrative drive of a high-class mystery… Ruiz Zafón is a splendidly solicitous craftsman, careful to give the reader at least as much pleasure as he is evidently having.
Guardian (UK)
The story has heart, menace torture, kindness, cruelty, sacrifice, and a deep devotion to what makes humans tick.
New York Journal of Books
Full of stylish writing, Gothic atmosphere and love letters to 19th-century novels
Yvonne Zipp - Washington Post
Perhaps his wittiest [novel] and the darkest to date, a stylistic feat that Ruiz Zafon handles deftly…Savor this book.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
There is an air of magical realism to Zafon’s tales. The prose is robust and the dialogue rich with smart irony. But mostly, reading Zafon is great fun.
Miami Herald
A deep and mysterious novel full of people that feel real…This is an enthralling read and a must-have for your library. Zafón focusses on the emotion of the reader and doesn’t let go.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Characters from The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game reconvene in Zafon's newest literary thriller. When a stranger shows up at the struggling Sempere & Sons bookshop in Barcelona in 1957 to buy a rare and expensive volume, Daniel Sempere—the son—sets out to uncover the mysterious man's motives. The resulting mix of history and mystery drives this third installment in Zafon's cycle about the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a "sprawling labyrinth…like the trunk of an endless tree." What Daniel discovers will implicate those he loves, has lost, and loathes—from his soon-to-be-wed friend, Fermin; to Daniel's mother, Isabella, who died under questionable circumstances; his father; his wife, Bea, and infant son, Julian; and a host of schemers, torturers, corrupt governmental officials, writers, and lovers, many of whom have changed identities, hurriedly penned secret missives, and stashed keys to hidden treasures. Zafon's storytelling is deft and well-paced, and his vivid prose brings the cultural riches and political strife of Franco-era Spain to life. Though the book will undoubtedly please readers familiar with his other novels, as the introduction explains, the book is a "self-contained tale" capable of standing alone—something it does with aplomb.
Publishers Weekly
Invoking the atmosphere of Dumas, Dickens, Poe and Garcia Marquez, Carlos Ruiz Zafon retains his originality and will hold his rightful place among the storytelling masters of literature.
Book Reporter
Gripping…suspenseful…The magic of the novel is in the wonderfully constructed creepy and otherworldly setting, the likable characters, and the near-perfect dialogue.
Booklist
Daniel [Sempere] sells a rare copy of The Count of Monte Cristo to a shadowy stranger who uses it to send a message to a helper in the store: "For Fermin Romero de Torres, who came back from among the dead and holds the key to the future." Who is the stranger, and what does his dark message mean? ... Ruiz Zafon's story takes off, resembling a Poe story here, a dark Lovecraft fantasy there, a sunny Christopher Morley yarn over there. The...story soon takes twists into the fantastic and metaphorical..... Ruiz Zafon narrowly avoids preciousness, and the ghosts of Spain that turn up around every corner are real enough. Readers are likely to get a kick out of this improbable, oddly entertaining allegory.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Describe the relationship between Daniel and Fermin. What ties these men together? What do we learn about these two friends and their lives as the story unfolds?
2. At the beginning of the novel, a mysterious stranger enters Sempere & Sons and purchases the store's rare copy of The Count of Monte Cristo. How does this classic French tale tie into The Prisoner of Heaven? If you have read both books, how are they similar? Who is The Prisoner of Heaven and how did he earn this name? Is his incarceration a form of pure damnation or is there a sublime grace to it as well?
3. The stranger inscribes the book with an enigmatic message: "For Fermin Romero de Torres, who came back from among the dead and holds the key to the future." What key is this message referring to? How does this inscription drive the story and where does it lead the characters?
4. Daniel makes note of Fermin's stockpile of aphorisms, such as "A good repast is like a lass in bloom: not to appreciate it is the business of fools." Look for them throughout the novel, choose a few you especially like, and then share them with your reading group. How does Fermin come by his wisdom?
5. Why does Fermin tell Daniel that he has been protecting him, "From the truth Daniel . . . from the truth?" Why does Daniel—or anyone—need protection from truth? Does truth have the power to free Daniel or to imprison him in a psychological way?
6. Ruiz Zafón interweaves past and present to tell the story of The Prisoner of Heaven. How does life in 1939 Barcelona compare to that of 1957? Describe the Barcelona that Ruiz Zafón creates. What kind of a place is it? How is the civil war still shaping the lives of its inhabitants two decades after it began?
7. Fermin reveals to Daniel that he has been imprisoned in Montjuïc Castle. What kind of conditions do he and the other prisoners there endure? Among the prisoners he meets is the writer David Martín. Why is Martín in prison? Why are writers and intellectuals among the first casualties of a dictatorship? Other inmates say that Martín is mad. Is he crazy or does he use madness to survive?
8. What is David Martín's relationship with Mauricio Valls, the prison's governor? Compare and contrast the two men. What qualities would you ascribe to each? What happens to each of them and how are they both connected to Daniel?
9. Why does Fermin eventually go along with Martín's crazy escape scheme? What might have happened if he had not?
10. Fermin is rescued and nursed back to health by the invisible poor of Barcelona's shadow world. "There are times and places where not to be anyone is more honourable than someone," Ruiz Zafón writes. What is the meaning of his words and how does it relate to the "time and place" brought to life in the novel? Is it better to fight or to give in to what Daniel calls "the convenient cowardice of survivors"? What is sacrificed with each choice?
11. Daniel's friend, Professor Alburquerque, tells him, "Cities have no memory and they need someone like me, a sage with his feet on the ground, to keep it alive." Explain what he means. Why do cities have no memory? Why is it is easy to forget even the most devastating of events? What happens when we do forget? Would you consider Ruiz Zafón to be a memory keeper like the professor?
12. When Daniel discovers a letter from his wife's old suitor in her coat pocket, should he have read it? How is Bea's former fiancé tied into the mystery of both Daniel and Fermin's past?
13. Late in the novel, Daniel and Fermin visit the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. What does Daniel find there and how does he react to his discovery? What is this repository and why is it secret? Why did the prison governor, Valls, want to learn its whereabouts? How do places such as the Cemetery of Forgotten Books exist in a brutal and dangerous world like fascist Spain?
14. What do you think comes next for Daniel and Fermin?
15. In the novel's prologue, the author writes, "The Prisoner of Heaven is part of a cycle of novels set in the literary universe of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books of which The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game are the two first installments. Although each work within the cycle presents an independent, self-contained tale, they are all connected through characters and storylines, creating thematic and narrative links." If you have read the other two books, identify these links. How does reading this third installment shed new light on the characters and your understanding of the mysterious Cemetery of Forgotten Books?
(Questions issued by publisher.)