The Prisoner of Heaven

The third in a series of novels that began with The Angel's Game and The Shadow of the Wind. 


The Prisoner of Heaven returns to the world of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books and the Sempere & Sons bookshop. It begins just before Christmas in Barcelona in 1957, one year after Daniel and Bea have married. They have a son, Julian, and are living with Daniel's father at Sempere & Sons. Fermin still works with them and is busy preparing for his wedding to Bernarda in the New Year. However something appears to be bothering him. 


Daniel is alone in the shop one morning when a mysterious figure with a pronounced limp enters. He spots one of their most precious volumes that is kept locked in a glass cabinet, a beautiful and unique illustrated edition of The Count of Monte Cristo. Despite the fact that the stranger seems to care little for books, he wants to buy this expensive edition. Then, to Daniel's surprise, the man inscribes the book with the words 'To Fermin Romero de Torres, who came back from the dead and who holds the key to the future'. 


This visit leads back to a story of imprisonment, betrayal and the return of a deadly rival. 


Carlos Ruiz Zafón worked as a screenwriter in Los Angeles for ten years before the publication of his fifth book, The Shadow of the Wind, in 2001. It has been translated into over 40 languages and was a finalist for the Premio Fernando Lara. Ruiz Zafón is now a full-time novelist and regular contributor to the newspapers El Pais, La Vanguardia and El Mundo. He lives in Barcelona. 


textpublishing.com.au 


'The seductions of narrative, for Zafón, are not unlike the allures of erotic love. He actually succeeds in making bookishness sexy.' Weekend Australian 


'Carlos is a natural-born storyteller.’ Good Reading 


'The Prisoner of Heaven is the kind of fiction that invokes the curiously warm pleasure of reading from a printed page, rather than the cold blue light of an electronic screen, and draws its storytelling vitality from the same well as the great 19th-century novelists such as Victor Hugo, Alexandra Dumas and Charles Dickens. Such writing offers many valuable things, not least a poignant reminder of what we could lose if we fail to navigate a safe passage through our ongoing microchip revolution. Highly recommended.' Canberra Times 


'Melodrama succeeds when there is no embarrassment in its execution, and Zafon is a splendidly solicitous crafsman, careful to give the reader at least as much pleasure as he is evidently having....Like his countryman Arturo Perez-Revertem Zafon combines sincere engagement with genre tradition, with clever touches of the literary postmodern....This is, joyously, a book about books, about what can be learnt from them and what is lost when they are lost.' Sydney Morning Herald 


'Zafon combines sincere engagement with genre tradition, with clever touches of the literary post-modern….This is explicitly, and joyously, a book about books, about what can be learned from them , and what is lost when they are lost.' Guardian 


'The Prisoner of Heaven is the third part of the story and, like the first, is narrated by Daniel Sempere. But it too contains stories within stories, and the real narrative here belings to the irrpressible Fermin Romero de Torress…Zafon’s characters and dialogue are as lively and full-blooded as ever.' Observer 


'Zafón’s storytelling is deft and well-paced, and his vivid prose brings the cultural riches and political strife of Franco-era Spain to life.' Publishers Weekly  



A unforgettable series.' Illawarra Mercury 'Beautifully written.' Adelaide Advertiser 'Full of warmth and emotion.' Sunday Star Times