The Child

A compact, emotionally gripping literary novel from the author of Patria that blends a real-life tragedy with an intimate psychological portrayal of its aftermath.  

International bestseller Fernando Aramburu—winner of Spain’s National Prize for Narrative, the Strega Europeo, and the Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa Prize—returns with his most intimate and emotionally gripping novel yet. With The Child, Aramburu turns from the broad canvas of history to the private shadows of a single Basque family shaken by an unspeakable tragedy. 

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—through the long, painful arc of grief. Aramburu’s gift lies in his ability to portray ordinary people with extraordinary humanity: small gestures, fleeting thoughts, contradictory impulses, the quiet heroism of resilience. His prose is unadorned, piercing, and all the more powerful for its restraint. 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 careful, and caring, prose.  

Spanish readers have described The Child as “heart-breaking and unforgettable,” and “Aramburu at his most intimate.” With echoes of Russell Banks’ The Sweet Hereafter, The Child is a novel about trauma and its wake, about tight-knit communities, about the long shadow of loss, and about the possibility of healing. It is perfect for readers of emotionally driven, character-centered fiction that explores how ordinary families survive the unimaginable.