In this bestselling literary novel Cercas takes the reader on an investigation of historic events to unravel an essential secret about Spain's most uncomfortable past, but most importantly, about the human condition.

Rafael Sanchez Mazas, founder and ideologue of the Falange movement, manages to escape from a collective execution. As the Republicans look for him, an anonymous soldier points a gun at him, but lets him get away. He will hide out in the forest until the war ends, but he will always remember the soldier with the strange gaze that did not turn him in. Cercas tries to penetrate the mystery of the enigmatic Sanchez-Mazas, but only to discover that the true meaning of the story is found where least expected, « because one does not find what he looks for, but rather what life gives him.