Midnight Palace
Palacio de la Medianoche
by
Carlos Ruiz Zafon, translated by Lucia Graves
Young Adult Horror fiction
This author has had books on the New York Times bestseller list and has one a number of awards, but I found this book to be somewhat disjointed and at least a little confusing. Maybe this is because of the translation, but my guess is that this is not the author's finest work, either.
In 1916 Calcutta, a pair of twins are separated at birth to keep them safe from their father's foe who seeks to murder them. The boy is raised in an orphanage. The girl is raised by their grandmother on the run throughout India. Fast forward to 1932 when circumstances reunite the twins.
The menace still exists and starts to stalk the 16 year olds and the grandmother. As the tale progresses we find out about their father and his brilliant scientific mind and a tragedy that lead to the death of 365 orphans back in 1916. Through a curse, the ghost of their father's foe continues to incinerate parts of Calcutta as he exacts revenge on the family. The author points out that Calcutta is named for Kali, the black one, the goddess of destruction.
Some parts of this book were quite interesting, but it lacked in overall appeal.
