DANIEL SEMPERE
The son of a bookseller in calle Santa Anna and owner, since 1945, of the only copy of a fascinating novel by an unknown writer who he will risk his life trying to find.
JULIÁN CARAX
The mysterious author of novels condemned to oblivion and destruction. It is known that he was the son of milliner and lived a Bohemian lifestyle in Paris before the civil war.
LAÍN COUBERT
The devil character in Julián Carax's novel. He has stepped out from his fictional world and is chasing Daniel Sempere in real life.
GUSTAVO BARCELÓ
Owner of a cavernous bookshop in calle Ferran, he has been a member of the leading circles of the bookseller's guild for a long time and holds bibliophile gatherings in Els Quatre Gats. Although he was born in Caldes de Montbui, he claims to be a descendent of Lord Byron. He is seriously interested in Daniel's copy of The Shadow of the Wind.
FERMÍN ROMERO DE TORRES
An extremely loquacious beggar, he claims to have been a prisoner in the Montjuïc cellars for his role as a spy during the civil war: «I was Macià's man in Havana.»
JAVIER FUMERO
A mercenary who after the war became a police torturer in the Montjuïc cellars.