Tan says that he came across La Sombra del Viento on Amazon. Intrigued by the introductory snippet in English, he researched further, discovering that the original language was in fact Spanish. Though he himself spoke no Spanish he nevertheless resolved to obtain the copyright.
他說，當初在亞馬遜網路書店瞄見《風之影》英文版簡介，一看就愛上，查到原文為西班牙書後，一句西文都不識的他，竟立刻去信表達代理意願。