Publisher's Synopsis
Amaia is impetuous, sensuous, and Jewish. She lives with her parents in France in the early 1930's. Multi-lingual and highly educated by her teacher father, she obsesses over the growing threat of fascism and anti-Semitism in Germany and the right-shifting politics in France. While most of Europe is tilting toward authoritarians, Spain is leaning left and is on the verge of choosing a liberal democratic republic promising women's suffrage and equal rights. Drawn to the progressive tides in Spain, she abruptly flees France to take a teaching job in Basque Country on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees. What she does not know is that the liberal politics that have lured her to Spain have enraged the right leaning military, the fascists, and the religious right.
Ganiz, an affable Basque sheep farmer, lives on a pristine high-altitude meadow in a stone cottage called the House of Ganiz. Despite being large for a Basque, he is a gentle soul and is in denial over the polarization rising in Spain. His isolation and Basque aloofness abet his avoidance of the threat. An inquisitive self-learner with a love for books, he and Amalie bond over shared thoughts and ardent lovemaking. Acknowledging their differences, they call themselves the odd couple. When civil war breaks out and threatens their sanctuary, Amaia pleads for Ganiz to abandon his passivity and act to protect her and their children. When an escaped political prisoner from Pamplona arrives bloody and beaten to their meadow, Ganiz is forced to open his eyes and make hard choices that will mean life or death for his family.The reader may recognize parallels between the world of 1936, and the world of today. That is because it is true.
