The Shadow of the Wind
by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Contents
Nuria Monfort: Remembrance of the Lost — Chapter 12
Overview
Nuria Monfort’s attempt to rebuild a life in 1945 collapses when her boss Pedro Sanmartí harasses her and, aided by Inspector Fumero’s shadow, engineers her social ruin and firing. With nowhere else to turn, Nuria finally confesses her ordeal to the disfigured Julián Carax, who briefly offers her solace and shows a spark of his old self by writing again. The next day Sanmartí is found murdered, implying Julián has begun acting directly—and dangerously—to protect Nuria as Fumero closes in.
Summary
In 1945, amid postwar poverty and silence about the Civil War, Nuria Monfort finally finds steady work as a copyeditor at Endymion, a publishing house run by Pedro Sanmartí. Nuria befriends Mercedes Pietro, Sanmartí’s secretary and a war widow caring for a young son with muscular dystrophy; Mercedes becomes the one person Nuria feels she might confess everything to.
Mercedes warns Nuria that Sanmartí is close to Inspector Javier Fumero, part of a new postwar elite. When Fumero visits the office, Mercedes helps Nuria hide. Meanwhile Sanmartí persistently pressures Nuria to go out with him, mocking her claim that her husband, “Miquel Moliner,” is a novelist and implying that success requires the right connections.
Nuria tries to deter Sanmartí by dressing severely, but the harassment escalates. After Sanmartí learns Nuria is seeking other work, he summons her, touches her face, and then retaliates by claiming her corrected manuscripts are full of errors, forcing her to stay late redoing work. On nights when Mercedes is sent home, Sanmartí corners Nuria alone, touching her shoulders and eventually fondling her; Nuria flees, only to run into Fumero on the staircase, who pointedly asks after her “husband,” signaling he is watching her.
The next day, a rumor spreads that Nuria is a lesbian and involved with Mercedes, isolating her socially and placing Mercedes’s livelihood at risk. Mercedes, ashamed and frightened, tells Nuria that Sanmartí has been shown a police report about Nuria’s suspected communist past and admits she cannot afford to lose her job; she also warns that Fumero is personally after Nuria.
On Monday, Nuria arrives to find a new copyeditor, Salvador Benades, seated at her desk, and she is silently pushed out by the office. Mercedes runs after her with an envelope of donated money from coworkers. That night Nuria returns to the apartment on Ronda de San Antonio, where Julián Carax is waiting; he has written his first poem in nine years. Nuria breaks down and tells Julián everything, finding brief comfort in his arms. By morning, Julián is gone, and the radio reports that Pedro Sanmartí has been found dead on a bench, his neck broken and his eyes pecked by pigeons—an outcome that strongly suggests Julián has intervened on Nuria’s behalf.
Who Appears
- Nuria MonfortNarrator; endures workplace harassment, is smeared and fired, then confides in Julián.
- Pedro Sanmartí MonegalEndymion publisher; sexually harasses Nuria, retaliates professionally; later found murdered.
- Inspector Javier FumeroSanmartí’s powerful ally; surveils and intimidates Nuria, fueling fear and isolation.
- Mercedes PietroSanmartí’s secretary; warns Nuria, then is forced to distance herself; gives her money.
- Julián CaraxDisfigured fugitive; comforts Nuria, writes a poem, disappears before Sanmartí’s death.
- Salvador BenadesReplacement copyeditor; occupies Nuria’s desk as she is dismissed.
- Mrs. SanmartíPedro Sanmartí’s wife; identifies her husband’s corpse to police.