The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #2
The Angel's Game
by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Contents
Act One - City of the Damned — Chapter 12
Overview
David and Cristina secretly rebuild Pedro Vidal’s ambitious but inept family saga, effectively ghostwriting it while hiding the truth. Their growing intimacy creates tension, leading Cristina to impose strict boundaries. David’s overwork and doubts about his integrity intensify, culminating in a near-fatal collapse before a tram at dawn.
Summary
David meets Cristina almost daily in his tower house to review and rewrite pages from Pedro Vidal’s long-gestating epic about two rival brothers across generations of Barcelona’s rise. Recognizing Vidal’s version as inert and mishandled, David replaces the plot with the very concept he once gave Vidal, reconstructing characters and scenes from the ground up.
As Cristina types their revisions, she worries that Vidal will discover their intervention, noting his surprise at the apparent improvement in his own prose. David dismisses the risk, citing a writer’s vanity, but he hides the borrowed premise from Cristina. Their complicity grows, even as Cristina urges David to slow down and notices his declining health.
David’s work on City of the Damned suffers as he survives on minimal sleep. Herminia (Lady Venom) senses his output has changed, while Barrido and Escobillas remain oblivious. David understands the danger but prioritizes the secret partnership with Cristina, despite knowing she will never reciprocate his feelings.
Their intimacy strains when David attempts to kiss Cristina; she withdraws for two weeks and then returns only to set firm boundaries, insisting their meetings end once Vidal’s book is finished. David suspects she disdains his pseudonymous pulp work, prompting doubts about his integrity and fantasies of writing a book worthy of her respect.
After a sleepless night, David wanders to the Sagrada Familia at dawn, reflecting on its perpetual incompletion. Exhausted and disoriented, he freezes on tram tracks as a tram bears down. The driver brakes, stopping inches from David’s face, and David collapses into darkness, a stark consequence of his overwork and inner turmoil.
Who Appears
- David MartínNarrator; secretly rewrites Vidal’s novel with Cristina, struggles with unrequited feelings, overwork, integrity doubts, and collapses before a tram.
- CristinaBrings Vidal’s pages, co-rewrites them with David, enforces boundaries after his advance, worries about David’s health and Pedro’s discovery.
- Pedro VidalMentor whose ambitious family saga falters; unknowingly benefits from David and Cristina’s extensive, secret rewrites.
- Herminia (Lady Venom)Notices David’s altered writing as Ignatius B. Samson and suspects something is wrong.
- BarridoPublisher who doesn’t read; oblivious to changes in David’s work.
- EscobillasPublisher partner; equally unaware of David’s deteriorating state and shifting style.
- Tram driverWarns and brakes in time, narrowly preventing David’s death at dawn.