The Prince of Mist

Spanish author Carlos Ruiz Zafon's debut novel, The Prince of Mist (1993), a Spanish-language young adult mystery was translated into English and published in the United States in 2010. Set during World War II, the story concerns the young son of a watchmaker who experiences a number of strange occurrences relating to a nearby shipwreck.

Zafon sets his story in 1943 in an unnamed city in Europe. It is Max Carver's thirteenth birthday, and as a present from his father, Maximilian, he receives a watch with "Max's Time Machine" engraved on the back. Maximilian tells the younger Max that the family is moving to the coast to escape the war. The family includes Max's mother, Andrea, and his two sisters, Alicia and Irina. Before embarking on a train to the coast, a mysterious cat with yellow eyes approaches the family. The younger sister, Irina, begs her father to let her keep it, and he eventually relents. As the train pulls out of the station, Max realizes that the train station's clock is moving backward.

Max learns from his father that the family's new coastal home was built in 1923 by Dr. Richard Fleischmann and his wife, Eva. Tragically, their son died in a drowning accident, after which Richard's health declined rapidly. Following Richard's death, Eva left the house to her lawyers to sell.



After killing a number of spiders with the help of the new family cat, Max looks out his window and sees a mysterious-looking garden, adorned with six-pointed stars and a number of stone statues situated in a circle. Max waits until the next morning to more closely inspect the garden. After breaking a lock to enter the garden, he finds that the statues are grotesque depictions of circus freaks. The scariest looking statue is of an ominous clown. Max briefly looks away from the clown, and when his gaze returns he notices that the clown's arm is now raised toward the sun. Frightened, Max runs back into the house, deciding to keep his discovery to himself because he doubts his family will believe him.

Later that day, Max meets Roland, a slightly older boy who lives with his adopted father, Victor Kray. Victor was the lone survivor of a terrible shipwreck that took place in 1918 just off the coast of Max's new home. To thank God for saving his life, Victor built a lighthouse in town where he currently lives with Roland. Roland and Max make plans to go diving near the wreckage the next morning. That night, the family watches some old film reels Maximilian recovered in a nearby shed. In one, the camera operator enters the same garden Max entered that morning. The clown looks different somehow to Max. After most the family leaves, Alicia admits to Max that she had a dream about the clown the night before moving.

The next morning, Max and Alicia join Roland on his shipwreck dive. Alicia, who is a little older than Max, takes an immediate liking to Roland; the feeling seems to be mutual. While Max and Roland go diving, Alicia waits on the shore. The dive is a serene and beautiful experience for Max until he notices the same six-pointed star symbol on a flag attached to the wrecked ship, which is known as the Orpheus. After they finish the dive, Roland tells Max and Alicia the full story of the Orpheus. It was owned by a Dutchman who owed gambling debts to a circus promoter named Mr. Cain. Mr. Cain's troupe often had to leave quickly after being run out of various towns, and on one occasion, the Dutchman used the Orpheus to transport Mr. Cain and his circus freaks. Victor, meanwhile, stowed away on the ship because he had some unfinished business with Mr. Cain. In the end, Victor was the only survivor. The next day, the three decide they need to learn more about the wreck from Victor.



Meanwhile, Irina experiences strange ghostly encounters in the house that scare her so much, she falls down the stairs, cracking her head open. She survives the fall but is transported to the local hospital.

It is later revealed that Dr. Fleischmann had promised his first-born son, Jacob, to Mr. Cain, a magician who appears to have survived the shipwreck after all, either through magic or as a ghost. Using the clown statue, known as the Prince of Mist, Mr. Cain manipulated the sea mist into tentacles to drag Jacob into the sea. Jacob appeared to die but miraculously recovered, though Cain didn’t know this. To protect Jacob, Victor called him Roland and raised him as his own son. Roland has no memory of his life as Jacob.

In the end, Mr. Cain tries to take Alicia in Roland's place, pushing her underwater with his sentient magical clown mist. Refusing to let that happen, Roland dives into the sea, saving Alicia, but dying himself in the process. Finally, Irina awakes from the coma she suffered from falling down the stairs.



Zafon has won numerous awards for The Prince of Mist, including the Edebé Literary Prize for Young Adult Fiction.