Johan de Meij

Los Libros Olvidados

This is a story wrapped within a story that unfolds in Barcelona 1945, following World War II. The protagonist, Daniel Sempere, is the teenage son of an antiquarian book dealer, who one day takes him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a mysterious place with labyrinthine corridors where rare and banned books are stacked in massive dusty piles. His father tells Daniel to select a book, but it will be his responsibility to protect it. Daniel picks La Sombra del Viento (The Shadow of the Wind), a novel by a forgotten author Julián Carax. Daniel immediately starts reading the book, and the story unwinds itself into a compelling and complicated plot. As he reads, Daniel finds himself and his own life merging into the story's plot. It transpires that there is a mysterious man named Laín Coubert (‘the man without a face’) who is determined to destroy all copies of Carax’s books. Daniel is threatened by Coubert and is determined to find out what happened to Carax, who fled to Paris and subsequently disappeared. Daniel finds that his own life has much in common with the author's. The book mixes magic realism, page-turning mystery, and Daniel's own real life. Daniel's once ordinary teenage existence is now filled with larger-than-life colorful and at times, terrifying characters. Among them are Fermín Romero de Torres, a beggar who Daniel and his father befriend and employ in the family bookstore; the evil police inspector Javier Fumero, who could be compared to Scarpia in Puccini’s opera Tosca or Javert in Les Misérables. The corrupt Fumero uses the war as an excuse to practice his sadism and is widely feared in Barcelona. He is represented in the music by a fascist military march. The city of Barcelona becomes a character in the book and in the music. The Ramblas, the boulevard running through Barcelona's Gothic Quarter and the famous café Els Quatre Gats (the four cats) come alive in the score through a Cobla, the traditional wind ensemble playing a sardana, typical Catalan folk music. Two parallel love stories turn up the heat: Julián Carax’s passionate, forbidden love for Penélope, and Daniel’s equally passionate and forbidden love for Beatriz (Bea). Bea’s sultry love theme is based on the first three letters of her name, with the ascending intervals B-E-A. Johan de Meij New York, October 17th, 2023