An epic and heartbreaking story of two best friends whose families are divided by the conflicting loyalties of terrorism.

The Basque Country, Spain, 2011. The day that terrorist group ETA announces a ceasefire, Bittori heads to the cemetery to visit the grave of her husband Txato - to tell him that she's decided to return to the home that they shared, the home she left after he was gunned down on the street outside.

Will she be able to once again live alongside those who turned their backs on her and her family, who shunned them just as the terrorists threats began, before the attack that would transform their lives? Will she ever know the identity of the hooded figure who killed her husband that rainy day, as he headed out to work?

Though she might try to lie low, Bittori's return will disturb the brittle peace that the town's inhabitants have been clinging to - none more so than Miren, whose son Joxe Mari is serving time in prison for terrorism. Miren and Bittori were best friends - but that was a lifetime ago, before Txato was killed and the two women and their families, once so close, were torn apart . . .

Homeland is a gripping and devastating novel which explores the meaning of family, friendship and what it's like to live in the shadow of violence. We are forced to recognize the impossibility of forgetting, and the need for forgiveness, in a community wrecked by political fanaticism.

'Homeland is, above all, a great novel . . . combining evocation and analysis . . . War and Peace by Tolstoy did it. The work of Fernando Aramburu achieves the same thing.' El País

Shedding the occasional tear doesn't matter. It is in any case difficult to read Homeland and remain dry-eyed.