The Child

"Polyphonic, thought-provoking, and heartbreaking."--Booklist

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.

Author: Fernando Aramburu
Publisher: Europa Editions
Published: 09/15/2026
Pages: 208
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.20w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9798889662082


Review Citation(s):
Booklist 08/01/2026

About the Author
Aramburu, Fernando: -

Fernando Aramburu (San Sebastián, 1959) is the internationally celebrated author of thirteen novels and multiple short-story collections. His awards include the Ramón Gómez de la Serna Prize, the Euskadi Prize, the Dulce Chacón Prize, the Mario Vargas Llosa NH Prize, the Tusquets Novel Prize, the Biblioteca Breve Prize, the 2017 National Prize for Narrative, the Strega Europeo, and the Taobuk Award for Literary Excellence. His novel Patria became a European phenomenon. He lives in Germany.

Vanderhyden, Will: - Will Vanderhyden is an NEA- and Lannan-funded translator of Spanish-language fiction. He has translated Rodrigo Fresán, Carlos Labbé, Fernanda García Lao, Andrés Felipe Solano, and others. His translations have appeared in Granta, The Paris Review, Two Lines, and Slate. His translation of The Invented Part won the Best Translated Book Award; Melvill won the 2024 Republic of Consciousness Prize and the 2024 Big Other Book Award for Translation.