“I was no longer able to hear the music that issues from a decent piece of prose.”
Work
From master storyteller Carlos Ruiz Zafon, author of the international phenomenon<b>The Shadow of the Wind</b>, comes<b>The Angel’s Game</b>— a dazzling new page-turner about the perilous nature of obsession, in literature and in love.<br> <br> <b><br></b><i>The whole of Barcelona stretched out at my feet and I wanted to believe that when I opened those windows</i>—<i>my new windows</i>—<i>each evening its streets would whisper stories to me, secrets in my ear, that I could catch on paper and narrate to whomever cared to listen</i>…<i><br> <br></i>In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man, David Martin, makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. 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. 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.<br> <br> Like a slow poison, the history of the place seeps into his bones as he struggles with an impossible love. Close to despair, David receives a letter from a reclusive French editor, Andreas Corelli, who makes him the offer of a lifetime. He is to write a book unlike anything that has ever existed — a book with the power to change hearts and minds. In return, he will receive a fortune, and perhaps more. But as David begins the work, he realizes that there is a connection between his haunting book and the shadows that surround his home.<br> <br> Once again, Zafon takes us into a dark, gothic universe first seen in<b>The Shadow of the Wind</b>and creates a breathtaking adventure of intrigue, romance, and tragedy. Through a dizzyingly constructed labyrinth of secrets, the magic of books, passion, and friendship blend into a masterful story.
Quotes
Showing 1-14 of 14
Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Canonical work source
“I was no longer able to hear the music that issues from a decent piece of prose.”
“Senor Sempere believed that God lives, to a smaller or greater extent, in books, and that is why he devoted his life to sharing them, to protecting them, and to making sure their pages, like...”
“Ignatius B. Samson, welcome to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.”
“Nothing important is learned; it is simply remembered.”
“We all give up great expectations along the way.”
“I can't die yet, doctor. Not yet. I have things to do. Afterwords I'll have a whole lifetime in which to die.”
“Why should we reduce faith to an act of rejection and blind obedience? Is it not possible to believe in values of acceptance, of harmony?”
“It is a part of our nature to survive. Faith is an instinctive response to aspects of existence that we cannot explain by any other means, be it the moral void we perceive in the universe, t...”
“As I walked, I ran my fingers along the spines of hundreds of books. I let myself be imbued with the smell, with the light that filtered through the cracks or from the glass lanterns embedde...”
“Every work of art is aggressive, Isabella. And every artist's life is a small war or a large one, beginning with oneself and one's limitations. To achieve anything you must first have ambiti...”
“To Senor Sempere, the best friend a book could ever have: you opened the doors to the world for me and showed me how to go through them.”
“Do you know what religion is, Martin, my friend? -I can barely remember Lord's Prayer. -A beautiful and well-crafted prayer. Poetry aside, a religion is really a moral code that is expressed...”
“But if you like, you can come share a tasty meal of bread, raisins, and fresh Burgos cheese. With that, and The Count of Monte Cristo, anyone can live to a hundred.”
“Don't be bashful; we're among gentlemen. It's a known fact that we men are the missing link between the pirate and the pig.”