The Child

From the author of Homeland, an emotionally gripping novel that blends a real-life event with an intimate portrayal of its aftermath

International bestselling author Aramburu turns from the broad canvas of history to the private shadows of a Basque family shaken by unspeakable tragedy in this compact, intimate novel about trauma and it wake. 

Based on a real-life school explosion near Bilbao that killed fifty children in 1980, The Child follows one family—parents, grandparents, and the lost boy of the novel's title—across the long, painful arc of grief. 

Aramburu's gift lays in his ability to portray ordinary people with extraordinary humanity: small gestures, fleeting thoughts, contradictory impulses, the quiet heroism of resilience. The grandfather who refuses to believe the boy is gone; the parents determined to "be strong"; the town that both remembers and forgets—each is rendered with exacting truth and tenderness, in unadorned, piercing prose.



"Once again, Aramburu finds the right words for something that is so very difficult to name."



"Aramburu delves with depth, elegance and unsentimental emotion into the narration of the pain and the consequences of the tragic death of a group of children in a community… a prodigy of universal empathy."



"An uplifting tale, beautifully crafted and full of feeling."