When boarding-school student Oscar Drai meets Marina, she promises him a mystery and takes him to a secret graveyard deep in Barcelona, where they witness a woman dressed in black lay a single rose atop a gravestone etched with a black butterfly. Their curiosity leads them down a dangerous path, and they discover a decades-old conspiracy that puts their lives in the hands of forces more sinister and mystical than they could have believed possible-- An English-language release of a popular story for older teens relates the experiences of a boarding school student who witnesses a shrouded womans macabre ritual at a cemetery, then follows her on a journey that transports him and his companion, Marina, to a forgotten post-war Barcelona, where they uncover a dark secret. By the best-selling author of The Shadow of the Wind. 30,000 first printing. Simultaneous eBook. Relates the experiences of a boarding school student who witnesses a shrouded womans macabre ritual at a cemetery, then follows her on a journey that transports him and his companion, Marina, to a forgotten post-war Barcelona. "We all have a secret buried under lock and key in the attic of our soul. This is mine."When Fifteen-year-old Oscar Drai suddenly vanishes from his boarding school in Barcelona, no one knows his whereabouts for seven days and seven nights.His story begins when he meets the strange Marina while hes exploring an old quarter of the city. She leads Oscar to a cemetery, where they watch a macabre ritual that occurs on the last Sunday of each month. At exactly ten oclock in the morning, a woman shrouded in a black velvet cloak descends from her carriage to place a single rose on an unmarked grave.When Oscar and Marina decide to follow her, they begin a journey that transports them to a forgotten postwar Barcelona--a world of aristocrats and actresses, inventors and tycoons--an reveals a dark secret that lies waiting in the mysterious labyrinth beneath the city streets. Carlos Ruiz Zafons haunting Marina has long been a cult classic in Spain and is now an international bestseller.
