The Midnight Palace

by Carlos Ruiz Zafón Narrated by Jonathan Davis

Overview

In the heart of Calcutta lurks a dark mystery....

Set in Calcutta in the 1930s, The Midnight Palace begins on a dark night when an English lieutenant fights to save newborn twins Ben and Sheere from an unthinkable threat. Despite monsoon-force rains and terrible danger lurking around every street corner, the young lieutenant manages to get them to safety, but not without losing his own life. . . .

Years later, on the eve of Ben and Sheere's sixteenth birthday, the mysterious threat reenters their lives. This time, it may be impossible to escape. With the help of their brave friends, the twins will have to take a stand against the terror that watches them in the shadows of the night--and face the most frightening creature in the history of the City of Palaces.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Zafón (The Prince of Mist) delivers an often creepy adventure, first published in Spain in 1994, populated with some wonderful characters. In British-occupied Calcutta in 1916, a soldier saves two babies (at the cost of his own life), and the children's grandmother leaves one at an orphanage to throw off the evil person chasing them. Sixteen years later, the boy, Ben, is reunited with his sister, Sheere, after a brutal attack on the orphanage. Along with Ben's fellow orphans (including narrator Ian), the siblings take on the mysterious sorcerer Jawahal, who has fire-based powers and a connection to the twins' late father. Zafón adeptly establishes his characters (including some fun and believable teenage repartee) and makes good use of his setting. His Calcutta has many of the mystical elements that many writers associate with the city, but it also shows the political strain of a city subject to years of hostile colonization and ready to break free. Just as importantly, Zafón delivers moments of genuine horror, as well as expert plot twists that move the story along. Ages 12–up. (May)

From the Publisher

Praise for The Prince of Mist:
* "Zafón is a master storyteller...This book can be read and enjoyed by every level of reader, and teachers who are looking for a good read-aloud will keep the audience on the edge of their seats with this tale."—VOYA, starred review

Praise for The Prince of Mist:
* "A melancholy horror tale."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

Praise for The Prince of Mist:
* "Awesome."—School Library Journal, starred review

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up—In 1932 Calcutta, 16-year-old Ben celebrates a last night together with the circle of friends he's dubbed the Chowbar Society, before they leave their childhood home at the orphanage and go their separate ways. The festive yet solemn occasion is brought to a halt by the arrival of Ariyami Bose and Sheere, the grandmother and twin sister Ben never knew he had. The twins were separated to protect them from Jawahal, a mysterious supernatural figure who seeks them for some diabolical purpose. As the Chowbar Society tries to find a way to protect the pair, the tragic history that ties together the twins' parents, Jawahal, and a horrific train fire comes to light. Although the characters never fully emerge as individuals, the sense of dread and mystery that pervades the story, and the themes of lost innocence and sacrifice keep readers turning the pages.—Christi Esterle, Parker Library, CO

NOVEMBER 2011 - AudioFile

Narrator Jonathan Davis perfectly matches the tempo and emotions of this gothic tale. In Calcutta, 1916, a soldier sacrifices his life in saving two orphaned newborns from a mysterious evil being. One of those babies, Ben, is left at a Catholic orphanage. The boy thrives, eventually joining a secret society that meets in a ruined house dubbed the Midnight Palace. Sixteen years later, the evil presence reappears to claim Ben, forcing the society of teens to find a way to defeat the magic and stay alive. Davis’s delivery is strong. However, the occasional use of sound effects and music under his voice is distracting and muffles the narration. In addition, his slight Spanish accent makes it difficult for listeners to remember that the story’s setting is colonial India. C.B.L. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

Fraternal twins face a frightening destiny in this Indian melodrama set in 1932 Calcutta. Brought together by their grandmother Aryami Bose for the first time after a life spent apart, 16-year-old twins Sheere and Ben learn that a vengeful childhood friend of their father's named Jawahal murdered their parents. The evil agent tried to finish off the entire family, but Aryami saved the infants by separating and hiding them. Jawahal swore to return when the twins were 16 and complete the job. But exactly who or what is the fiery man who seems to be able to materialize at will? And what did the twins' parents do to make Jawahal so angry? The only clues the brother and sister have are their dead father's detailed journal and recurring visions of a flaming train that plunges through solid walls, destroying everything it touches. The newfound siblings will have to travel to the heart of the fabled city to discover Jawahal's real identity and the truth about their family's troubled history. Though the villain's motives and origins are muddy and the secondary characterizations thin in this sensationalistic gothic tale, the steamy atmosphere of Calcutta is palpable and the confrontations between the twins and their malevolent nemesis truly terrifying. Perfect for readers who value mood over all else. (Fantasy. 12 & up)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173550071
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	05/31/2011
Series:	Niebla , #2
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

Read an Excerpt

The Midnight Palace

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By Zafon, Carlos Ruiz

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Copyright © 2011 Zafon, Carlos Ruiz
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9780316044738

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I’LL NEVER FORGET the night it snowed over Calcutta. The calendar at St. Patrick’s Orphanage was inching toward the final days of May 1932, leaving behind one of the hottest months ever recorded in the city of palaces.

With each passing day we felt sadder and more fearful of the approaching summer, when we would all turn sixteen, for this would mean our separation and the end of the Chowbar Society, the secret club of seven members that had been our refuge during our years at the orphanage. We had grown up there with no other family than ourselves, with no other memories than the stories we told in the small hours around an open fire in the courtyard of an abandoned mansion—a large, rambling ruin that stood on the corner of Cotton Street and Brabourne Road and which we’d christened the Midnight Palace. At the time, I didn’t know I would never again see the streets of my childhood, the city whose spell has haunted me to this day.

I have never returned to Calcutta, but I have always been true to the promise we all made to ourselves on the banks of the Hooghly River: the promise never to forget what we had witnessed. Time has taught me to treasure the memory of those days and to preserve the letters I received from the accursed city, for they keep the flame of my memories alive. It was through those letters that I found out our palace had been demolished and an office building erected over its ashes; and that Mr. Thomas Carter, the head of St. Patrick’s, had passed away after spending the last years of his life in darkness, following the fire that closed his eyes forever.

As the years went by, I heard about the gradual disappearance of all the sites that had formed the backdrop to our lives. The fury of a city that seemed to be devouring itself and the deceptive passage of time eventually erased all traces of the Chowbar Society and its members, at which point I began to fear that this story might be lost forever for want of a narrator.

The vagaries of fate have chosen me, the person least suited to the task, to tell the tale and unveil the secret that both bonded and separated us so many years ago in the old railway station of Jheeter’s Gate. I would have preferred someone else to have been in charge of rescuing this story, but once again life has taught me that my role is to be a witness, not the leading actor.

All these years I’ve kept the few letters sent to me by Roshan, guarding them closely because they shed light on the fate of each member of our unique society; I’ve read them over and over again, aloud, in the solitude of my study. Perhaps because I somehow felt that I had unwittingly become the repository of everything that had happened to us. Perhaps because I understood that, among that group of seven young people, I was always the most reluctant to take risks, the least daring, and therefore the most likely to survive.

In that spirit, and trusting that my memory won’t betray me, I will try to relive the mysterious and terrible events that took place during those four blazing days in May 1932.

It will not be easy, and I beg my readers to forgive my inadequate words as I attempt to salvage that dark Calcutta summer from the past. I have done my best to reconstruct the truth, to return to those troubled days that would inevitably shape our future. All that is left for me now is to take my leave and allow the facts to speak for themselves.

I’ll never forget the fear on the faces of my friends the night it snowed in Calcutta. But, as Ben used to tell me, the best place to start a story is at the beginning….

Continues...

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Excerpted from The Midnight Palace by Zafon, Carlos Ruiz Copyright © 2011 by Zafon, Carlos Ruiz. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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