The survivor of a troubled childhood, he has taken refuge in the world of books, and spends his nights spinning baroque tales about the city's underworld. In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man - David Martin - makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. If you haven?t read Shadow, then read that first before coming here but then come straight here.The stunning new novel from the internationally bestselling author of THE SHADOW OF THE WIND. If you loved Shadow, you must listen t this too. Evil and love swirl in a dance of chance or purposed misfortune and opportunity ? one is never sure. It is just as powerful as Shadow, if not quite as wonderful, and let's us see further, both into the depths of Zafon's imagined old Barcelona and the duality and complexity of the human spirit. We meet up with old friends and encounter new heroes and villains. The line between reality and the supernatural blurs a little more in this second book that charts a writer's history a couple of decades before the Shadow of the Wind. Here is the second and it continues the mood of the first: of a rambling and brooding Barcelona peopled by Peakesque characters who are at once both ugly and beautiful, repellent yet beguiling. The author spoke recently on BBC radio about there being 4 interlocking stories planned in the Shadow of the Wind series. Set in the turbulent 1920s, The Angel's Game takes us back to the gothic universe of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, the Sempere & Sons bookshop, and the winding streets of Barcelona's old quarter, in a masterful tale about the magic of books and the darkest corners of the human soul. But as David begins the work, he realises that there is a connection between this haunting book and the shadows that surround his home. In return, he will receive a fortune, perhaps more. He is to write a book unlike anything that has existed - a book with the power to change hearts and minds.

Close to despair, David receives a letter from a reclusive French editor, Andreas Corelli, who makes him the offer of a lifetime. Like a slow poison, the history of the place seeps into his bones as he struggles with an impossible love. But perhaps his dark imaginings are not as strange as they seem, for in a locked room deep within the house lie photographs and letters hinting at the mysterious death of the previous owner.

In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man, David Martín, makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym.

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón