The Prisoner of Heaven: A Novel (P.S.)

Another winner.Read the books in order. This book (book 3) continues sharing the in-depth story of the character's lives. Carlos' beautiful writing elicits emotions and allows the writer to visualize the various situations and events. There are points in the book that I cringed, laughed, felt anger and sorrow for the various characters and their situations, fortunes, and misfortunes. It clearly shows how position and power can corrupt. It also makes me want to research how brutal the punishment was for prisoners in Barcelona during the time the story was staged.I enjoy these books for the following reasons. 1. They present great mysteries that keep you mind engaged. 2. The writing is easy and enjoyable to ready. 3. You get to know the various characters and start to form "attachments." 4. The books and their stories are intertwined. 5. After reading 3 books, I have a strong desire to research Barcelona. It must be a fascinating place.Hope this helps. RW

At last, another installment of the Shadow of the Wind series! I do not want to say trilogy because after I finished this book I felt that there is room for more novels in the series. I was slightly disappointed to see that this novel was only 294 pages where his other books were lengthier. Carlos Ruiz Zafon is a master storyteller no matter how many pages are in the book. When reading a book that belongs to a series, sometimes you are able to read the series in any order you choose, this is not one of them. If you have not read Shadow of the Wind or Angel's Game and are considering reading Prisoner of Heaven, you should stop and read the books in order. If you are like me and read the other two books a couple of years ago, you may want to go back and read them again. These books are definitely worth another round. Prisoner of Heaven contains the small cast of characters found in the other two books. These characters are vibrant, alive, and jump off the page. Some characters are inherently evil while others are good, but the best characters contain several shades of grey between good and evil.Prisoner of Heaven takes place in Barcelona in 1957 where Sempere and Sons Bookshop is starting to fall on hard times during the holiday season. A mysterious man visits Daniel Sempere in the bookstore and is searching for Fermin Romero Torres (another employee of the bookstore). When Daniel mentions the visit to Fermin, Fermin has no choice but to reveal his mysterious past to Daniel. About half of the book is a flashback of Fermin's past when he was imprisoned in the tower with the author David Martin from Angel's Game. Fermin is also about to marry his sweetheart, Bernarda, but has to get a few things in order first. My favorite feature of these stories is the dialogue. I am glad I read this on my kindle so that I may go back and refer to the highlights, but the hardcover book is so beautiful that I may just have to get a copy of that too.

Spanish author Carlos Ruiz Zafon's new novel, "The Prisoner of Heaven", is the third in his series set in Barcelona. Taking place in 1957, with flashbacks to 1939, Zafon returns with young bookseller Daniel Sempere and his older friend, Fermin Romero de Torres. The two friends, celebrating Fermin's upcoming marriage to his long-time girlfriend, are faced with an uncomfortable fact: "Fermin Romero de Torres" officially died in 1939. He was listed as dying after escaping from a brutal Spanish Civil War prison outside of Barcelona. He's lived "off-the-books" for the past 18 years and now he has to become officially alive.In confiding in Daniel, Fermin has to recount his time in the prison. Convicted of "war crimes" by trumped-up charges, Fermin endures a year or so in captivity with others who are there on equally vague charges. By 1939, Francisco Franco's Nationalist government had consolidated power in the war which began in 1936. The prisons were full of political dissenters as well as common criminals. Conditions were terrible and prisoners were often beaten and shot for no apparent reasons. Fermin was held with a famous writer, a murdering thief, and a doctor. The prison warden was trying to find the thief's booty for himself and also use the author to "ghost write" literature of which he, the warden, was going to claim authorship.Ruiz Zafon goes back and forth between 1939 and 1957 with nary a dropped plot point. I thought it would help to have read the previous two books in the series, but the author says it's not necessary; the reader can read the three in any order. That's good to find out because for some reason I missed reading the second book in the series. Carlos Ruiz Zafon's writing is superb; both his plots and characters are right on the mark. The books have been noted as being "dark" and "gothic", but I think that's not right. Ruiz Zafon writing is SO evocative of Barcelona of the period that what appears to be "dark", really isn't. Maybe it helps to have visited Barcelona, because I'm familiar enough with the setting that I can see in my mind the places he refers to.I can heartily recommend "The Prisoner of Heaven" for the readers of either or both the previous books in the series. I can also recommend it as a stand-alone novel. As for me, I'm going to order the second book right now!

Although it can be read separately the entire series is a must read!

Maybe because it was the first I read of the four, but for me it is the best of them. I just loved it.

Total Immersion into the Barcelona of Zafon. Phantasmagorical and hypnotic with unexpected tunnels, twists and spirals in a dark labyrinth dotted with dazzling shafts of light. Damn good!

Prachtig boek

Love all this series. So beautifully written and translated. Highly recommend for lovers of literature.