The Frozen Heart: Almudena Grandes

Julio Carrion Gonzalez, a man of tremendous wealth and influence in Madrid, has come home to be buried. But as the family stand by the graveside, his son Alvaro notices the arrival of a stranger - a young and attractive woman. No one appears to know who she is, or why she is there.

Alvaro's questions only deepen when the family inherits an enormous amount of money that is a surprise even to them. In his father's study Alvaro discovers an old folder with letters sent to his father in Russia between 1941 and 1943, faded photos of people he never met and a locked grey metal box.

The woman is Raquel Fernandez Perea, the daughter of Spaniards who fled during the Civil War. One episode in her past has marked her forever - the only time she saw her grandfather cry. Her fate and that of the family, now hangs on the secrets of Julio's past.