Well, this is a story about books." About books?" About accursed books, about a man who wrote them, about a character who broke out of the pages of anovel so that he could burn it, about a betrayal and a lost friendship. It's a story of love, of hatred, and of the dreams that live in the shadow of the wind." You talk like the jacket blurb of a Victorian novel, Daniel." That's probably because I work in a bookshop and I've seen too many. But this is a true story.

A good liar knows that the most efficient lie is always a truth that has had a key piece removed from it.

It's curious how easy it is to tell a piece of paper what you don't dare say to someone's face.

I leafed through the pages, inhaling the enchanted scent of promise that comes with all new books, and stopped to read the start of a sentence that caught my eye.

Whoever said that childhood is the happiest time of your life is a liar, or a fool.

When 'The Shadow of the Wind' became a success I had already been a working writer, I'd been through the ups and downs, I'd seen how it worked.

It might have been that notion, or just chance, or its more flamboyant relative, destiny.