When New Yorker Alex Nadal inherits his aunt's farm near Barcelona he is more than intrigued. First, because his aunt appears to have died twice - once at the end of the Spanish Civil War and again sixty years later - and secondly because he is curious about his Catalan roots, about which his father has always maintained a stony silence.

But his arrival on Spanish soil is not a prodigal's return; indeed he is made to feel very unwelcome. He asks too many questions which are met with either hostility or silence, until Alex begins to understand that in this sun-baked and ancient land the past is not history but merely unfinished business. And in the end it's a simple ultimatum: finish it or it will finish him.

"An assured and absorbing first novel with a background of Barcelona so vivid you can almost touch it" - The Telegraph

"There is a great deal to like in this sophisticated novel... (Burgen's) touch is light, though the theme is dark" - Catalonia Today

"Captures the vibrancy, tensions and flavours of the Spanish city while giving us a well written and intriguing mystery" - Manchester Evening News

"Both a love letter and a character study of Barcelona, woven into a classic suspense plot" - January Magazine

"Burgen... does a fine job paying homage to Catalonia in his first novel" - Publishers Weekly