We spoke with Alejandra Segrelles of the Tusquets Editores foreign rights department about Homeland, a novel that has been on Spain's bestseller list since publication in September. The novel is about two Basque families who were once close but are now divided because of the ideology of the Basque separatist group, ETA.
Book title: Patria (Homeland)
First published: September 2016 by Tusquets Editores, Barcelona, Spain
Format: Trade paperback
Author: Fernando Aramburu is the author of the novels "Años lentos" (Slow Years, 2012), which won the Tusquets Editores Prize for Novel 2011 and was named Book of the Year 2012 by the Booksellers of Madrid. Another recent novel, "Ávidas pretensions," (Keen Pretensions) won the Biblioteca Breve Prize 2014.
How It’s Done: The book is now in its 8th printing, and is currently #2 in Spain’s Nielsen bestsellers lists (about 120,000 copies have been printed in Spain). The book has been sold in seven territories, and a deal for a television series with a Spanish producer has also been closed.
Why They Think It’s Working: Segrelles says that "the interest shown by media has been and still is extraordinary.” Before release it was the cover at El Cultural/El Mundo, it opened El País literary supplement Babelia, and El País Semanal published an excerpt. According to Segrelles, reviews have been enthusiastic. Speaking to the book's sales success, Segrelles adds, "It is a joy for any publisher that, in this so commercialized world, good literature still gives this wonderful kind of surprise."
