Review: Bonfire of the Ignorant
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 23, 2012
The Rose of Fire is a short story set in Barcelona during the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th Century. The story by Carlos Ruiz Zafon is translated into English by Lucia Graves in a wonderfully readable style. In the middle 1400s, a plague had decimated a large portion of the population of the city, and smoke and ash filled the air from fires of burning corpses. In their ignorance, religious leaders blamed Semitic money-lenders of a demonic plot to poison citizens, and vengeance was taken on these scapegoats.One day in this period, a strange, stench-filled ship drifts into the harbor with a sole survivor possessing a personal diary and secret plans for a hidden library. The survivor, Edmond de Luna a world traveling adventurer, is on a fateful mission chartered by The Emperor of Constantinople to find the perfect place in Barcelona to build a labyrinth for a city of books. The labyrinth would limit access to forbidden works and prodigies of centuries of thought. Edmond's diary is captured, but he has hidden the plans on board the ship. Barcelona's Grand Inquisitor wants to discover Edmond's mission, so he calls on Raimundo de Sempera, owner of a book printing workshop to translate the diary. Raimundo withholds information in the diary from the Inquisitor about the plans for a book city. He sneaks on board the ship, finds the plans, and keeps them for his own use. The book of plans that describes the labyrinth is complex but, it has the considerable power of information that will be coveted for hundreds of years.The short story ends, and the First chapter of Zafon's novel, The Prisoner of Heaven is presented as a continuation of the story.  It starts in Barcelona during the Christmas season in the 1950s, but readers see the connections with the 15th Century and the intervening history. I have to warn readers, you will be hooked by the novel after reading the free short story and may end up buying the novel without a second thought. Now, I am thoroughly enjoying reading my copy of The Prisoner of Heaven on my Kindle.