The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #2
The Angel's Game
by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Contents
Overview
The Angel's Game follows David Martín, a young Barcelona writer whose talent is forged in poverty, newspaper work, and the lurid demands of serial fiction. Mentored by the wealthy Pedro Vidal and drawn to Vidal's secretary, Cristina Sagnier, David longs to write something worthy of his own name while escaping the compromises that have shaped his career.
When the enigmatic publisher Andreas Corelli enters his life with an extraordinary commission, David is pulled into a world where literature, faith, obsession, and power blur together. His rented tower house, a mysterious old manuscript, and the history of another doomed writer begin to suggest that stories can possess their makers as surely as people possess secrets. The novel explores ambition, love, artistic integrity, guilt, and the dangerous seduction of believing that words can save or damn a soul.
Plot Summary ⚠️ Spoilers
David Martín begins as a poor seventeen-year-old assistant at The Voice of Industry, where deputy editor Don Basilio Moragas gives him an emergency chance to write a Sunday story. The piece succeeds, and David is assigned to the crime beat. With encouragement from the admired, aristocratic writer Pedro Vidal, David begins publishing sensational stories, eventually creating The Mysteries of Barcelona. His popularity brings envy, exhaustion, and deeper poverty, but it also confirms his ambition to become a real writer.
David's past is marked by violence and abandonment. His father, damaged by war and addiction, beats him for reading, though the bookseller Señor Sempere protects David and gives him Great Expectations. David's mother is absent, and his father is later murdered outside the newspaper. Vidal arranges work and shelter for the boy, becoming David's patron. Years later, David receives his father's revolver and learns that the beloved Dickens volume has vanished, reinforcing the sense that his hopes are always being taken from him.
After David's newspaper serial becomes too controversial, he is fired. Vidal reveals that he engineered the dismissal to secure David a lucrative arrangement with the publishers Barrido and Escobillas, who hire him to write monthly pulp novels under the pseudonym Ignatius B. Samson. David earns money but loses himself in relentless production. He moves into a gloomy tower house at 30 Calle Flassaders, where an old Underwood typewriter waits, and his health deteriorates as headaches and strange sensations plague him.
A mysterious correspondent, Andreas Corelli of Éditions de la Lumière, repeatedly intrudes on David's life. Corelli first lures him to El Ensueño, a brothel that later proves to have burned years before, and returns David's childhood copy of Great Expectations. David's fascination with Cristina Sagnier, Vidal's secretary and chauffeur Manuel Sagnier's daughter, grows as he works with her to rescue Vidal's failed novel. David and Cristina secretly rewrite it, while David also attempts a book of his own. Their intimacy deepens, but Cristina remains bound to Vidal.
David is diagnosed by Doctor Trías with a likely malignant brain tumor and told he has little time left, with his ability to write soon to fail. Corelli then offers him a fortune, legal freedom, and ultimately a cure in exchange for a year of work on a book: not merely a novel, but the foundation of a new religion. After a terrifying dream of surgery in Corelli's house, David wakes seemingly healed, takes the money, and discovers that Barrido and Escobillas have been killed in an arson attack that conveniently frees him from his contract. Inspector Víctor Grandes begins watching him.
Meanwhile, Vidal publishes The House of Ashes, the novel David secretly wrote, and is acclaimed, while David's own The Steps of Heaven is dismissed and buried by his publishers. Vidal confesses that the gunmen who killed David's father had actually been targeting Vidal, then announces his engagement to Cristina. David's despair deepens. Señor Sempere honors David's rejected novel by placing it in his private collection and later takes David to the hidden Cemetery of Forgotten Books, where David deposits it and discovers the cryptic volume Lux Aeterna, signed D.M. and typed on his own machine.
Corelli's commission forces David to study religion as narrative machinery. With Isabella Gispert, a sharp young aspiring writer who becomes his assistant and friend, David regains routine and writes a mythic doctrine of persecution, fear, and salvation. Isabella questions Corelli's influence and helps David support the failing Sempere bookshop. David also investigates the tower house's previous tenant, Diego Marlasca, learning from Alicia Marlasca that Diego lost his son Ismael, became obsessed with actress Irene Sabino and spiritualist Damián Roures, accepted a Paris commission, and died under suspicious circumstances.
David's investigation reveals a web of old crimes. Roures is murdered after speaking to him. Alicia Marlasca is found drowned. Valera, the Marlasca family's lawyer, warns David off and is later found dead. David learns that payments from a D.M. trust went to Irene, Jaco Corbera, Somorrostro, and a stonemason. He eventually discovers that the man posing as Ricardo Salvador is actually Diego Marlasca, while the real Salvador's remains have been hidden for years inside a secret chamber in David's own house. Diego has manipulated parts of the Marlasca mystery and seeks David's manuscript.
Cristina, after marrying Vidal, collapses emotionally. She writes David letters that Isabella hides, then attempts suicide and eventually comes to David during a storm. They reconcile and plan to flee to Paris, but Cristina reads or attempts to destroy David's hidden manuscript and disappears before their train departs. David traces her to the sanatorium at Puigcerdà, where she is catatonic, restrained, and terrified of a presence guarding the manuscript. David writes a story to reach her, but she warns him to destroy the book. When he tries to rescue her, Cristina escapes onto the frozen lake and drowns beneath the ice as David fails to save her.
Back in Barcelona, David becomes a fugitive. Grandes interrogates him, challenges the reality of Corelli, and produces evidence that seems to implicate David in the murders and Cristina's disappearance, yet one inconsistency—the stolen inscribed copy of The Steps of Heaven found with Irene—makes him hesitate. Grandes helps David escape, but later pursues him for a bounty. David survives a cable-car confrontation because The Steps of Heaven stops a bullet, and he kills Grandes in the struggle.
David returns to the tower house and uncovers the sealed torture room holding Ricardo Salvador's remains. Diego Marlasca appears with Corelli's manuscript and attacks, intending to imprison David as he did Salvador. David ignites Diego with an oil lamp; the tower burns, and David escapes with the manuscript. Before leaving Barcelona, he says farewell to Isabella, gives money to sustain the Sempere shop, introduces her to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, and hides the cursed manuscript among countless variations of Lux Aeterna. He then sails away under Captain Olmo.
Fifteen years later, in 1945, David lives anonymously by the sea, unchanged by age and haunted by memory. A letter from Sempere's son tells him that Isabella married him, had a son named Daniel, and died of cholera, leaving David a loving farewell. Corelli appears one last time, unchanged, with a young girl named Cristina who resembles the lost Cristina. He tells David that his punishment is to remain ageless, love her again, and watch her die. David accepts the cruel gift and resolves to fill Cristina's life with stories and happiness for as long as he can.
Characters
- David MartínThe protagonist, a poor Barcelona writer whose hunger for literary purpose makes him vulnerable to patrons, contracts, and supernatural bargains. His loves for Cristina, Isabella, and the Sempere family shape his choices as he moves from pulp success to obsession, investigation, exile, and punishment.
- Andreas CorelliThe enigmatic publisher known as the boss, who commissions David to write a book capable of founding a religion. He offers money, freedom, and a cure, but his ageless presence, angel emblem, and final curse make him the central supernatural force manipulating David's life.
- Pedro VidalDavid's wealthy mentor, patron, and eventual rival. He helps launch David's career, unknowingly benefits from David's ghostwriting, marries Cristina, and later shelters David before ending his own life in despair and guilt.
- Cristina SagnierManuel Sagnier's daughter, Vidal's secretary, and David's great love. Her marriage to Vidal, hidden letters, breakdown, and death beneath the ice become the emotional center of David's tragedy.
- Isabella GispertA determined young aspiring writer who becomes David's assistant, protégée, and closest friend. She restores order to his life, helps the Sempere bookshop, marries Sempere's son after David's departure, and leaves David a final letter of affection and gratitude.
- Señor SempereThe kindly bookseller who shelters David as a child, gives him Great Expectations, and later honors The Steps of Heaven. His death while defending David's book marks a devastating loss and binds David more deeply to the world of books.
- Sempere's sonThe shy heir to Sempere & Sons, who grows from quiet assistant into the shop's new keeper after his father's death. David encourages his courtship of Isabella, and he later reports to David that he married her and fathered Daniel.
- Daniel SempereThe son of Isabella and Sempere's son, mentioned in the epilogue. His birth links David's lost circle to the future of the Sempere family.
- Don Basilio MoragasDavid's first editor at The Voice of Industry, whose stern faith gives David his first published chance. Later at La Vanguardia, he helps David investigate Diego Marlasca through the newspaper archives.
- Inspector Víctor GrandesThe police inspector who investigates the deaths surrounding David and alternates between skepticism, sympathy, and corruption. He briefly helps David escape but later hunts him for a bounty and dies during their cable-car struggle.
- Diego MarlascaThe former tenant of David's tower house, a lawyer turned writer whose grief over his son leads him into occult obsession and crime. He is eventually revealed as the living manipulator posing as Ricardo Salvador and dies fighting David in the burning house.
- Ricardo SalvadorThe former police investigator originally tied to Marlasca's case. His identity is stolen by Diego Marlasca, and his hidden remains in David's house confirm the depth of Marlasca's crimes.
- Irene SabinoA former actress and medium linked to Diego Marlasca, Jaco Corbera, and the old séance circle. She assaults David, possesses the stolen inscribed copy of The Steps of Heaven, and dies by poison after giving cryptic warnings.
- Damián RouresA conjurer and séance organizer who once connected Marlasca to Irene and occult practices. His murder after David questions him intensifies the chain of deaths tied to the Marlasca mystery.
- Juan Corbera (Jaco)Irene's manager and probable lover, suspected in the exploitation of Diego Marlasca and repeatedly invoked as a hidden threat. His name surfaces in payments, warnings, and Irene's dying words.
- Alicia MarlascaDiego Marlasca's reclusive widow, who tells David about Ismael's drowning, Diego's obsession, and the supposed curse of the Flassaders house. She is later found drowned in her own pool, adding another death to David's investigation.
- Ismael MarlascaDiego and Alicia Marlasca's young son, whose drowning destroys the family and drives Diego toward séances and forbidden bargains. His memory haunts the Marlasca house and David's understanding of Diego's motives.
- Sebastián ValeraThe powerful lawyer connected to the Marlasca family and later to David's legal troubles. He reveals that he never met Corelli, discloses Marlasca-related payments, and is found dead before David can fully use his evidence.
- Don Soponcio ValeraSebastián Valera's father and Diego Marlasca's former law partner. His burned files and private diaries conceal crucial clues about the old Marlasca payments and cover-up.
- Manuel SagnierPedro Vidal's chauffeur and Cristina's father. His illness and death deepen Cristina's grief, and his request that David protect her becomes one of David's enduring obligations.
- PepA servant and later chauffeur at Villa Helius after Manuel's collapse. He delivers messages between Vidal, Cristina, and David and gives David key information about Cristina's disappearance.
- José BarridoOne of David's exploitative pulp publishers at Barrido & Escobillas. His death in the arson attack frees David's contract while making David appear suspicious.
- José Luis López EscobillasBarrido's partner, a threatening publisher who pressures David to continue the Ignatius B. Samson series. He dies from injuries after the office fire, completing the collapse of the firm.
- Herminia DuasoThe publishers' secretary, nicknamed Lady Venom, who works within Barrido and Escobillas's predatory office. After the fire, she confronts David and voices suspicion that he benefits from the tragedy.
- Gustavo BarcelóA knowledgeable bookseller who helps investigate Éditions de la Lumière and later assists with Señor Sempere's funeral. His findings about Corelli's supposedly dead publisher deepen David's doubts.
- Isaac MonfortThe gruff keeper of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. He receives David into the secret sanctuary and later allows David to introduce Isabella before hiding the cursed manuscript.
- Doctor TríasThe physician who diagnoses David with a terminal brain tumor and tells him writing will soon become impossible. His diagnosis makes Corelli's later cure irresistible to David.
- Doctor SanjuánThe doctor at Villa San Antonio who cares for Cristina after she is found near her father's grave. He believes David may help her recover and permits visits that lead to David's failed rescue attempt.
- EulaliaThe witty head librarian who helps David during his research into religion and myth. Their conversations sharpen David's cynical understanding of belief as narrative and institutional power.
- Doña MarianaDavid's former teacher, who privately tutors him as a child and later appears among those who care about his life. She represents one of the early adults who recognized his intelligence.
- David's fatherA war-damaged, violent nightwatchman whose murder scars David's childhood. His revolver becomes both heirloom and recurring instrument of crisis.
- David's motherDavid's absent mother, whom he later watches from afar at El Indio. Her silent rejection of his gifted novel reinforces David's isolation.
- Witch of SomorrostroA folk figure tied to Marlasca's occult hopes and the legend of salvation through a pure soul's sacrifice. Her daughter later tells David that Marlasca murdered the original Witch and hints that the tower house contains the true crime.
- The black-suited boyA pale childlike messenger who follows David and guides him through Somorrostro. His appearances connect Corelli's influence to the hidden stages of David's investigation.
- José María BrotonsThe stern archivist at La Vanguardia who helps David and Don Basilio research Diego Marlasca's 1904 death. His archive work reveals the thin official story and points David toward Ricardo Salvador.
- MarcosOne of Grandes's brutal police subordinates. He helps pressure David, later attacks him during a raid, and is maimed when David shoots his hand.
- CasteloGrandes's other harsh police subordinate. He pursues David during the raid at Irene's boarding house and falls to his death in the building shaft.
- Captain OlmoThe ship captain who takes David out of Barcelona after the tower house burns. His vessel enables David's exile and the end of his life in the city.
Themes
Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Angel’s Game turns gothic mystery into a meditation on authorship, desire, and the dangerous hunger to be remembered. Its central theme is the seduction and corruption of storytelling. David Martín begins as a gifted young journalist whose first crime story offers escape from poverty, but his talent is repeatedly exploited: by Barrido and Escobillas under the mask of Ignatius B. Samson, by Pedro Vidal through the ghostwritten The House of Ashes, and finally by Andreas Corelli, who commissions not merely a book but a religion. Writing becomes both salvation and damnation: David’s words can preserve souls in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, yet they can also manufacture belief, hatred, and destruction.
A second major theme is the bargain between ambition and the self. David longs for recognition, love, and life itself; Corelli’s offer exploits all three. The miraculous cure after the dreamlike surgery literalizes the Faustian bargain: David gains time and power but loses moral certainty. The recurring angel emblem, the impossible return of Great Expectations, and the many versions of Lux Aeterna suggest that every promise of greatness carries a hidden price.
The novel also explores love as obsession, refuge, and wound. David’s love for Cristina inspires tenderness but also jealousy, secrecy, and despair. Her disappearance, madness, and death beneath the ice transform romance into haunting. By contrast, Isabella’s friendship offers a more humane counterweight: she brings order, honesty, and care into David’s cursed house, and her eventual connection to Sempere’s son links love to continuity rather than possession.
Finally, Zafón develops a powerful theme of memory and survival through books. Sempere’s shop and the Cemetery of Forgotten Books stand against fire, censorship, failure, and death. David’s rejected The Steps of Heaven is saved there, later literally saving his life by stopping a bullet. Even in the epilogue, after war, loss, and exile, David survives by telling the story. In this world, books are haunted objects, but they are also vessels of mercy: they keep the dead speaking when ordinary life has abandoned them.