The Shadow of the Wind: City of Shadows: Chapter 17 Summary & Analysis

Daniel reads the letter several times before dawn and then leaves the house and takes the train out of the city to the return address written on the letter, 32 Avenida del Tibidabo. The neighborhood is full of grand but decaying mansions obscured by walls and hedges. At the Aldaya house, Daniel tries unsuccessfully to peer through the overgrown vegetation around the gate, only making out a defunct fountain and several broken statues.

Daniel meets the caretaker of the neighboring house, who has worked in the neighborhood since 1920, and pumps him for information about the Aldayas. The caretaker says the Aldayas lost their Spanish fortune during the anarchist period of the Civil War and moved, with their son Jorge, to a property in South America. When Daniel asks about Penélope, the caretaker says he must be mistaken, because the Aldayas didn’t have any daughters.

The caretaker says the house will probably be demolished, which is a good thing since the Aldayas were “a shady lot.” Now that the house is abandoned, the neighbors claim that some strange presence haunts the house, sobbing. The son of the caretaker’s employer went in the house one night and claims to have heard voices.

Before he leaves, Daniel takes a last look at the house, imagining Penélope having her picture taken in the courtyard and Carax looking at the photograph, “contemplating a future as wide and luminous as that avenue.”