Kepler's 2020 Project in the News:
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Zafón unleashes his fearsome talent to conjure a ghost story out of long ago storms and promises, out of untimely tragedy and youthful, exuberant adventure. Max's family has come to a European coastal village to escape the city's horrors during the Second World War. Although their new house, a treasure trove of fascinating artifacts, has a tragic history, the impossibly perfect town at first promises to be a wonderful new beginning for this young family of an optimistic watchmaker. When a bizarre accident down a staircase sends his little sister to hospital, Max and his teenage sister are left on their own to roam the town with their new friend and guide, an alluring local boy named Roland. Weary old eyes watch over them from the lighthouse, and all too soon their days of seaside exploits and romance darken as the Prince of Mist comes to claim the young life he is owed. Zafón's narrative lens slides expertly from the solid postcard reality of a European village, to the sharp, sunlit focus of an afternoon dive down onto an aging shipwreck, and gradually, into the elusive haze of a an old tale come to haunt and hunt the present. The image that coheres speaks in chilling mythical whispers that will age the young. Reviewed by Vivian |
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