"My father and I lived in a small apartment on Santa Ana Street, next to the church square. The apartment was located directly above the bookstore specializing in collector's editions and used books inherited from my grandfather, an enchanted bazaar that my father hoped would one day pass into my hands. I grew up among books, making invisible friends on pages that crumbled into dust and whose scent I still carry on my hands."
The Shadow of the Wind (Planeta), by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (2001)
That bookstore immortalized by Carlos Ruiz Zafón in The Shadow of the Wind is still there, on Santa Anna street. Although, in reality, it was never a bookstore, nor a cemetery of forgotten books: it has been a glove and hat shop for 120 years. Zafón often went to the store as a child, accompanying his grandmother, as Hugo Peralta, grandson of one of the glove manufacturers who helped establish Guantería Alonso, explains from behind the counter. "Zafón came to the store shortly before publishing the novel, and told my mother that he had written something that would make the store famous all over the world." And so it was. Between customers and curious onlookers, they constantly arrive, looking for books on shelves actually full of hats and gloves, followers of Zafón and his saga of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, inspired by a store that continues to maintain the essence and magic of Barcelona a century ago.
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