It’s the shortest book from this tetralogy. It roughly has 300 pages (maybe even less, considering I read it in epub format). With an enigmatic title, this book could have been linked directly to David Martin in The Angel’s Game.
After The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel’s Game, The Prisoner of Heaven is the third book in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series written by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Set in Barcelona in 1957, this book focuses on Daniel’s best friend story. In Shadow of the Wind, Fermin was introduced as a homeless with dreadful scars and a terrible past, he dared not to dwell on it. He befriended M. Sempere and Daniel and began to work for them in their library. He shared a past with Inspector Fumero, who always seemed particularly eager to meet him. In this novel, however, Fermin is about to be married, but as the day approaches, he becomes distant and sombre. Bernarda, his fiancée, M. Sempere, Daniel and Bea are clearly worried about him, and try to tackle him through different means. It’s when a mysterious figure comes to visit the Sempere library that everything will begin to unfold. Dragging us on a journey into the dark history of Barcelona in the 1940s. It is in Montjuic Castle that Fermin will spend his darkest hours. But it’s also there where he’ll meet and befriend David Martin. The latter, through a ruse, will help Fermin escape, but he has given him a mission: to find M. Sempere and Daniel and to protect them.
This novel acts as a bridge between The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel’s Game. I feel as if the narration has been carefully thread and prepared for us. Past and present are intertwined, leading to more secrets and darker pasts. The friendship of Fermin and Daniel is no coincidence. Daniel, in turn, is discovering an unknown part of his past. His mother’s history and how she was killed by a well-known figure of recent history, Mauricio Valls. But the novel focuses on the past of Fermin Romero de Torres. His imprisonment in the Castle of Montjuic, his friendship with David Martin, how he cleverly escapes from prison thanks to his friend, and how he has to live in the shadows of a Barcelona without mercy or remorse. He also meets Rocito, a young woman, and they become friends and more. As Fermin’s story comes to an end, the overwhelming weight of the past (historically speaking) is unforgiving and humiliating. Daniel, on the other hand, is speechless. He’s furious at Fermin for keeping this secret for so long, and at his father, M. Sempere, for failing to tell him the truth about his mother and, above all, for doing nothing about it (to avenged her).
“Pour vous, Daniel. Pour vous. Votre père est comme beaucoup de gens qui ont eu à vivre cette époque et qui ont tout avalé en se taisant. Parce que le courage leur a manqué. De tous les bords et de toutes les couleurs. Vous les croisez dans la rue chaque jour et vous ne les voyez pas. Ils sont restés à pourrir sur pied durant toutes ses années, avec cette douleur en eux, pour que vous et d’autres comme vous puissiez vivre. Ne vous mêlez pas de juger votre père. Vous n’en avez pas le droit.”
Le prisonnier du ciel, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
This novel uses the past, perhaps to highlight its folly and utter nonsense. The past carefully threads the plot of the story and its limitations. It can also be seen as a curse, because it shapes the fate of our main heroes and other characters in the story. Some have the courage to fight it, others simply accept it, quietly and painfully.
Sometimes I wonder why something from the past affects and shapes our present. We’re prisoners without even knowing it, and the worst part is that sometimes we let that voice from the past decide our future. Maybe we should change that, slowly but surely.
Score: 8/10. Don’t ask me why, but somehow I wished the story was longer.
Melenaleonina 