How Carlos Ruiz Zafon Changed My Life: A Beautiful Soul Gone Too Soon
A personal reflection
“Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.” — Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Shadow of the Wind
This is the line by which I will forever remember Carlos Ruiz Zafon, the Spanish author best known for The Shadow of the Wind who tragically died last summer from colon cancer at the age of 55. I have talked about Zafon numerous times on my podcast, and he figured prominently in a story I wrote recently about my bookstore. But I have not, until now, set down in writing what this man I never met has meant to me.
First, a little biographical information for those who don’t know about him. I say a little because that’s all there is. When he died on June 19, 2020 the public was shocked, because he never revealed that he had been battling cancer for two years. This was totally in line with how diligently he guarded his privacy. As far as he was concerned, the world knew him through his books, which was what mattered.
Zafon was born in Barcelona in 1964 and attended Jesuit schools before taking up a career in advertising…
