In February 1981, just as Spain was set to leave Franco's dictatorship and embark upon a new era of democracy, Lieutenant Colonel Tejero and his band of civil guards stormed the parliament and opened fire. Only three members of Congress did not dive for cover: Adolfo Suarez, the outgoing prime minister, General Gutierrez Mellado and Santiago Carrillo, head of the newly legalised Communist party.In the Anatomy of a Moment, Javier Cercas, one of Spain's most important writers, combines the facts of history with the novelist's flair to capture the coup which symbolised Spain's final struggle to end its brutal civil war, employing insight, intricacy and incisive judgement to recreate the tension felt by a country whose future hung uncertainly in the balance.