Homeland

Miren and Bittori have been best friends all their lives, growing up in the same small town in the north of Spain. With limited interest in politics, the terrorist threat posed by ETA seems to affect them little. When Bittori’s husband starts receiving threatening letters from the violent group, however – demanding money, accusing him of being a police informant – she turns to her friend for help. But Miren’s loyalties are torn: her son Joxe Mari has just been recruited to the group as a terrorist and to denounce them as evil would be to condemn her own flesh and blood. Tensions rise, relationships fracture, and events race towards a violent, tragic conclusion . . .

Fernando Aramburu’s Homeland is a gripping story and devastating exploration of the meaning of family, friendship, what it’s like to live in the shadow of terrorism, and how countries and their people can possibly come to terms with their violent pasts.

Aramburu recounts the lives of ordinary people shattered by events that are ongoing in Spain today even years after ETA has suspended its armed campaign . . . A humane, memorable work of literature. Kirkus (starred review) Shedding the occasional tear doesn't matter. It is in any case difficult to read Homeland and remain dry-eyed. Corriere della Sera A work of tremendous power . . . we're once again reminded how overwhelming and powerful literature can be. Die Zeit Homeland is, above all, a great and considered novel . . . combing evocation and analysis . . . War and Peace by Tolstoy did it. The work of Fernando Aramburu achieves the same thing. El Pais A magnificent novel which is becoming a publishing, political and literary phenomenon. A story imbued with a spine-tingling sense of realism. La Vanguardia A powerful novel . . . Aramburu skilfully spins their stories in short, punchy chapters that dart back and forth in time. The Economist A brilliant and important book. Our planet is covered with lines of various kind, and Aramburu masterfully examines the bodies and souls those lines cut through like razors. -- Nadeem Aslam It's been a long time since I've read a book that was so persuasive and moving, so intelligently conceived. -- Mario Vargas Llosa A powerful saga . . . Aramburu is a captivating writer . . . Few books make me cry these days but by the final page I found my eyes prickling with tears. Sunday Times

Fernando Aramburu was born in San Sebastián in 1959. The author of three volumes of short stories and several novels, he lives in Germany where he works as a lecturer in Spanish language.

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