Carlos Ruiz Zafon's haunting gothic mystery, which has long been a cult classic in Spain and is now an international bestseller.
"We all have a secret buried under lock and key in the attic of our soul. This is mine."
Fifteen-year-old Oscar Drai meets the strange Marina while he's exploring an old quarter of Barcelona. She leads Oscar to a cemetery, where they watch a macabre ritual that occurs on the last Sunday of each month. At exactly ten o'clock in the morning, a woman shrouded in a black velvet cloak descends from her carriage to place a single rose on an unmarked grave.
When Oscar and Marina decide to follow her, they begin a journey that transports them to a forgotten postwar Barcelona-a world of aristocrats and actresses, inventors and tycoons--and reveals a dark secret that lies waiting in the mysterious labyrinth beneath the city streets.
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“Ruiz Zafón tells his gothic tale with a great deal
of exposition interspersed with sudden bursts of action. Weyman handles this
expertly, narrating with great emotion, making the many minutes of description
interesting to the listener…He also plays around with a wide variety of
accents: Spanish, Russian, German, and American characters are all subtly but
distinctly portrayed, while narration is performed in dulcet English tones.
Many characters are elderly and are given creaky voices that wobble in pitch,
but it’s never cartoonish. This is a sophisticated performance of an
atmospheric, complex mystery.”
—
Publishers Weekly (starred audio review)