A piece of literature can be many things but first of all it must capture its audience. You need to seduce people, entice them into a world of beauty and horror, light and shadow, of passion, of romance, of mystery. That's the magic of it. Beyond that, of course, you can open a dialogue about the ideas which interest you,… — Carlos Ruiz Zafon Copy Share
The thing is that my first novel, which was basically a mystery adventure story, won quite an important award in Spain for young adult fiction, and because of this it became a very successful book, and right now it's some sort of a standard title, it's read widely in many high schools in Spain, so I think, in a way,… — Carlos Ruiz Zafon Copy Share
I had never known the pleasure of reading, of exploring the recesses of the soul, of letting myself be carried away by… — Carlos Ruiz Zafon Copy Share Image
In those days, Christmas still retained a certain aura of magic and mystery. The powdery light of winter, the hopeful expressions of… — Carlos Ruiz Zafon Copy Share Image
It is part of our nature to survive. Faith is an instinctive response to aspects of existence that we cannot explain by… — Carlos Ruiz Zafon Copy Share Image
“Our world will not die as a result of the bomb, as the papers say, it will die of laughter, of banality, of making a joke… — Carlos Ruiz Zafon Copy Share Image
“I carried the trace of her lips, of her breath on my skin through streets full of faceless people escaping from offices and shops.” — Carlos Ruiz Zafón Copy Share Image
“Nekada davno, u djetinjstvu, možda is toga što sam odrastao među knjigama i knjižarima, odlučio sam da želim postati pisac i živjeti životom punim… — Carlos Ruiz Zafón Copy Share Image
“nations never see themselves clearly in the mirror, much less when war preys on their minds.” — Carlos Ruiz Zafón Copy Share Image
People might not agree with me, but I think a woman should have a feminine shape, something you can get your hands on. You,… — Carlos Ruiz Zafon Copy Share Image
“But I couldn't absorb the idea that death could actually walk by my side, with a human face and a heart that was poisoned… — Carlos Ruiz Zafón Copy Share Image
Once I'd worked out that I couldn't possibly expect people to enjoy a monstrous, 3000-page book, I realised I could in fact create a labyrinth of a story with four different points of entry. But what interested me was creating something that would rearrange itself every time you read one of the other books. So depending on which order you… — Carlos Ruiz Zafon Copy Share
The haunting of history is ever present in Barcelona. I see cities as organisms, as living creatures. To me, Madrid is a man and… — Carlos Ruiz Zafon Copy Share Image
“The main pillar of organized religion, with few exceptions, is the subjugation, repression, even the annulment of women in the group. Woman must accept the role of an ethereal, passive, and maternal presence, never of authority or independence, or she will have to suffer the consequences. She might have a place of honor in the symbolism, but not in the… — Carlos Ruiz Zafón Copy Share
