MARINA
BY CARLOS RUIZ ZAFÓN | PUBLICATION: SEPTEMBER 25, 2013TEXT PUBLISHING AU | GENRE: HISTORICAL FICTION
RATING: ★★★★
"It’s dark, yes, and achingly tender."
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Translated by Lucia Graves
A gothic tale for readers of all ages from the author of the bestselling The Shadow of the Wind.
Barcelona, 1980. Óscar Drai finds himself drawn to an old dilapidated mansion where he meets the captivating and elusive Marina. She leads him to the cemetery to witness a mysterious ritual: on the fourth Sunday of every month, a veiled woman alights from a carriage and lays a single rose on an unmarked grave.
Óscar and Marina are swept on a journey into the city’s dark underground of labyrinthine sewers, corrupt policemen, ageing aristocrats, forgotten societies and criminal depravity…to a sinister tale of love, ambition and jealousy that will hold Óscar’s heart forever.
A gothic tale for readers of all ages from the author of the bestselling The Shadow of the Wind.
Barcelona, 1980. Óscar Drai finds himself drawn to an old dilapidated mansion where he meets the captivating and elusive Marina. She leads him to the cemetery to witness a mysterious ritual: on the fourth Sunday of every month, a veiled woman alights from a carriage and lays a single rose on an unmarked grave.
Óscar and Marina are swept on a journey into the city’s dark underground of labyrinthine sewers, corrupt policemen, ageing aristocrats, forgotten societies and criminal depravity…to a sinister tale of love, ambition and jealousy that will hold Óscar’s heart forever.
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En El Ático Del Alma
MARINA is Zafón’s only stand-alone novel to date, and if I had to guess, it’s his quiet homage to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Fans of Zafón will instantly recognize how this book lays the groundwork for The Cemetery of Forgotten Books trilogy—not just in its haunted Barcelona setting, but in its plot structure and the emotional depth of its characters.
Told through the eyes of a young man at boarding school—abandoned, really, by parents too distracted to raise him—the story unfolds during one of his aimless wanderings through the city. What he stumbles into is a mystery, yes, but more than that: a lifelong friendship. One that anchors him. One that changes everything.
The novel weaves two love stories across different timelines, eventually converging in a tapestry of sorrow and beauty. It’s dark, yes, and achingly tender. That might sound redundant if you’ve read Zafón before—but it’s exactly what I expect from him.
And then there’s the language. That’s always been my favorite part of reading Zafón. His prose is lush, lyrical, and haunting—even when the subject matter veers into the Gothic and grotesque. Credit where it’s due: Lucia Graves deserves praise for her translation work, not just on Marina, but across Zafón’s entire body of work. She captures his voice with grace and precision.
This book completes my Zafón collection. I hope he writes again soon—I’m not ready to miss him for too long.
Update: Zafón died in June 2020, at the age of 55. We honor him by reading his books.
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About the Author:
Carlos Ruiz Zafón was born in Barcelona. He is one of the world’s most read and best loved writers. His work has been translated into more than forty languages, garnering numerous international prizes and reaching millions of readers. The Watcher in the Shadows is the fifth of his novels to be published in English.
Image from Text Publishing. No infringement intended.
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