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Shadow prequel due

11.04.08 Tom Tivnan

Weidenfeld & Nicolson is to publish the follow-up to Carlos Ruiz Zafón's The Shadow of the Wind, one of the UK's biggest selling translated novels ever.

The Angel's Game, a prequel to Shadow and Zafón's second novel, will be published in the UK in September 2009. Set in Barcelona, it follows a young writer who is approached by a mysterious figure to write a book. It will return to the themes and places of The Shadow of the Wind, including the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, the mythical building nestling deep within Barcelona's Raval district, as well as the Sempere & Sons bookshop.

Kirsty Dunseath, W&N's publishing director for fiction, bought the book from Thomas Colchie of New York's Colchie Agency on behalf of principal agent Antonia Kerrigan in Barcelona.

Dunseath said: "I was absolutely on tenterhooks when I heard that Carlos was finishing his new book, and when it arrived I read it on trains, in stolen moments between meetings and late into the night—it is a completely addictive read, a spine-tingling masterpiece."

Originally published in Spain in 2001, The Shadow of the Wind was released in the UK in 2004. It became a massive bestseller after being reviewed in the "Richard & Judy" Book Club in 2005 and has sold 918,589 in all editions through Nielsen BookScan.

Jonathan Ruppin of Foyles said he thought the book would do very well. He added: "When The Shadow of the Wind was published customers were looking for other titles Zafón had written. The second book won't have the "R&J" push behind it, but people will still be interested."

The new novel, like its predecessor, will be translated by Lucia Graves, daughter of poet Robert Graves. The Spanish edition will be published in April 2008 by Planeta Publishing and in the US in summer 2009 by Doubleday.

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