Marina
Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s haunting gothic mystery, which has long been a cult classic in Spain and is now an international bestseller.
“We all have a secret buried under lock and key in the attic of our soul. This is mine.”
Fifteen-year-old Oscar Drai meets the strange Marina while he’s out exploring an old quarter of Barcelona. She leads Oscar to a cemetery, where they watch a macabre ritual that occurs on the last Sunday of each month. At exactly 10 o’clock in the morning, a woman shrouded in a black velvet cloak descends from her carriage to place a single rose on an unmarked grave.
When Oscar and Marina decide to follow her, they begin a journey that transports them to a forgotten postwar Barcelona—a world of aristocrats and actresses, inventors and tycoons—and reveals a dark secret that lies waiting in the mysterious labyrinth beneath the city streets.
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Praise
Praise for Marina:
A 2015 ABC Best Book for Young Readers
A 2015 ABC Best Book for Young Readers
* "This beautifully written work of historical fiction is impossible to put down."
—School Library Journal, starred review
* "Zafón is a master of both the subtle simile and the outrageous image.... Unlikely discoveries in mysterious, half-ruined mansions alternate with spine-tingling action sequences to create a grotesquerie that will delight horror fans."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
* "Fans of Neil Gaiman will devour this book, and it deserves a place next to popular mysteries."
—VOYA, starred review
"This sweeping gothic mystery...delivers gritty atmosphere, perilous action, [and] propulsive storytelling."
—Booklist
"Delivers scares in spades.... [An] immersive, truly terrifying tale."
—The Bulletin
"A great tale of mystery, suspense, and romance.... spell-binding."
—Library Media Connection
"Zafón weaves a twisted tapestry of gothic horror, quickly paced, with intricate layers of carefully crafted stories within stories."
—The Horn Book
"High-quality gothic genre fiction with a classic Mary Shelley sensibility."
—Kirkus Reviews