The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #2
The Angel's Game
by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Contents
Act One - City of the Damned — Chapter 19
Overview
Weakened and distraught, David Martín seeks refuge with Sempere, who recognizes his crisis and invokes a long-promised sanctuary for a book. Sempere swears David to secrecy and escorts him to the hidden Cemetery of Forgotten Books, where keeper Isaac Monfort receives him. David secures his rejected novel there, deepening bonds and opening a secret literary underworld.
Summary
David Martín staggers into Sempere’s bookshop, pale and in pain. Sempere seats him, offers Vichy water, and, with his son, steadies David through a wave of nausea and throbbing headache. As David recovers slightly on a brioche, Sempere presses him to see a doctor.
David asks Sempere about a past promise to “save a book,” showing the rejected The Steps of Heaven. Recognizing the plea, Sempere decides to take David somewhere safe for the book, not for David, and insists on absolute secrecy.
At dusk they cross the Ramblas to Calle Arco del Teatro. Before a massive, ancient-looking door, Sempere warns David again never to tell anyone, not even Pedro Vidal. After intricate bolts release, the keeper, Isaac Monfort, greets them with abrasive humor and lays down the first rule: silence, enforced on pain of death.
Sempere departs, leaving David with Isaac. Through shadowed corridors hinting at palatial ruins, Isaac quizzes David about the book he carries and his work as “Ignatius B. Samson.” When David admits authorship of City of the Damned, Isaac’s mood softens.
Isaac then reveals a breathtaking labyrinth of bridges, tunnels, and towering shelves reaching toward a glass dome: the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. In awe, David hears Isaac formally welcome him, signaling that his rejected novel has found sanctuary in this hidden archive and that David is now bound to its secret.
Who Appears
- David MartínIll and shaken writer seeking to save his rejected novel; introduced to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.
- SempereKindly bookseller who aids David and secretly escorts him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.
- Isaac MonfortGruff keeper of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books; enforces secrecy and welcomes David and his book.
- Sempere’s sonAssists his father, tends to David with water and pastries during David’s collapse.