The City of Mist

I loved Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s entire Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, and I was so sad to hear about his passing in 2020. His final publication is The City of Mist, a brief collection of short stories that harkens back to the setting and themes of that series. Highlighting new characters and real historical figures like Miguel de Cervantes and Antonio Guadí, this collection captures the mystery of Barcelona and the magic of the author’s prose.

The City of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Translator	Lucia Graves; Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Audience	Adult
Genre	Short Stories
Setting	Barcelona, Spain
Number of Pages	162
Format I Read	Paperback
Original Publication Date	2020 and 2021

Official Summary

“Ruiz Zafón’s visionary storytelling prowess is a genre unto itself.”—USA Today

Return to the mythical Barcelona library known as the Cemetery of Forgotten Books in this posthumous collection of stories from the New York Times bestselling author of The Shadow of the Wind and The Labyrinth of the Spirits.

Bestselling author Carlos Ruiz Zafón conceived of this collection of stories as an appreciation to the countless readers who joined him on the extraordinary journey that began with The Shadow of the Wind. Comprising eleven stories, most of them never before published in English, The City of Mist offers the reader compelling characters, unique situations, and a gothic atmosphere reminiscent of his beloved Cemetery of Forgotten Books quartet.

The stories are mysterious, imbued with a sense of menace, and told with the warmth, wit, and humor of Zafón’s inimitable voice. A boy decides to become a writer when he discovers that his creative gifts capture the attentions of an aloof young beauty who has stolen his heart. A labyrinth maker flees Constantinople to a plague-ridden Barcelona, with plans for building a library impervious to the destruction of time. A strange gentleman tempts Cervantes to write a book like no other, each page of which could prolong the life of the woman he loves. And a brilliant Catalan architect named Antoni Gaudí reluctantly agrees to cross the ocean to New York, a voyage that will determine the fate of an unfinished masterpiece.

Imaginative and beguiling, these and other stories in The City of Mist summon up the mesmerizing magic of their brilliant creator and invite us to come dream along with him.

Review

If you’re familiar with Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s fiction, especially his Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, the stories in The City of Mist will be a welcome return to the style fans know and love about his books. As with his previously published work, the stories here primarily take place in Barcelona and continue with the foggy, mysterious, dreamy atmosphere. Rather than the sunny, touristic version of Spain most people probably imagine, these stories are darker and more Gothic in nature.

Many of the characters and names harken back to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series. If you’ve read those novels, your attention will certainly be piqued by the familiar names and expansions on well known characters. One story even offers a sort of origin for the fabled Cemetery of Forgotten Books—the actual location in the novels!

Other stories focus on real historical figures, including Don Quixote author Miguel de Cervantes and the architect Antonio Guadí, most famous for his unique buildings and parks in Barcelona.

While the style, setting, and characterizations don’t offer anything new, fans of the author will still enjoy this collection of 11 short stories. They fit seamlessly into his existing body of work and are a last, welcome addition that fans can cherish. Ten of the stories were first written in Spanish, two of which the author himself translated into English. One story was originally written in English.

Final Thoughts

The City of Mist is a great collection of stories that encapsulates Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s writing style perfectly. These stories add to the worlds he constructed in his other fiction and will appeal to fans of his work. I’m sad that this will be his last publication, but I look forward to diving into his other novels soon.

This was the final book I read for my Books in Translation reading challenge for January. Next month brings a whole new challenge that I’m excited to start!