Soldiers of Salamis

At the center of this novel is a single, inexplicable incident from the end of the Spanish Civil War, when an unknown Republican soldier caught a leader of the right-wing Falange escaping a Republican firing squad but then walked away, sparing his life. Writing six decades later, Cercas frames his own investigation into this mystery with a tale at once goofy, sad, and movingly sweet that transformed Spanish history and literature (the novel sold millions there and broke a national silence about the war and its aftermath). For an American reader like me, it captures the horror, the poignancy, and the bewildered humor of what it's like to live through, and outlive, history.