The Merciful Women (Las piadosas)

Seduced by the promise of literary glory, John Polidori, Lord Byron’s physician, seals a fatal pact with a muse who will pit him against Byron, against his own madness, and against the immortal price of creation. A gothic tale about art, ambition, and the darkness that inspires genius.

In this brilliant reinvention of the literary myth of Villa Diodati, the novel begins with an unsettling discovery: a possible secret correspondence by John William Polidori, physician and secretary to Lord Byron, found by a contemporary narrator in Buenos Aires. From these fragmentary documents, the narrator reconstructs a forbidden story that took place during the famous summer of 1816, when Byron, Shelley, and Mary conceived the tales that would forever change fantastic literature.

The protagonist, Polidori, receives a mysterious letter in a black envelope sealed with purple wax and the initial “L.” The sender is Annette Legrand, the supposed monstrous third sister of the famous twins Babette and Colette, former actresses now aged. Annette confesses to being a creature who must feed on the male “vital fluid” to survive, an elixir she had previously obtained thanks to her sisters’ allure. Dying and desperate, she chooses Polidori as her new provider… and as her confidant.

Caught between terror and fascination, the young doctor allows himself to be seduced by the promise Annette offers him: in exchange for his seed, she will grant him the literary glory he so desires. Thus is born The Vampire, the first modern story of the genre, dictated by this dark muse through visions induced by opium. When Polidori presents it to Byron, Shelley, and Mary, his reading provokes astonishment and envy. At last he is admired, but his triumph soon becomes a curse.

Obsessed with repeating the miracle, Polidori proposes an eternal pact to Annette. She cruelly rejects him and reveals the truth: he is not the only one who has fallen into her web. Wounded and consumed by rage, Polidori sets out to cross Lake Leman during a storm to take revenge on Annette. Upon reaching her refuge, he finds the house empty and a chest filled with letters: among them his own, and others from Lord Byron addressed to the “Abominable Muse of Darkness.” He then understands the magnitude of his humiliation. Annette not only deceived him, but had also seduced and exploited Byron and other writers who, like him, sold their souls for a spark of genius.

The tale culminates with Polidori’s downfall, consumed by madness and shame. Years later, his work will be published under Byron’s name, sealing his tragic fate as the cursed author who unknowingly created the first modern vampire. Literary immortality always demands a price in blood.

RELEVANT INFORMATION: Federico Andahazi is a widely renowned Argentine writer and psychologist whose works have been published by the world’s most prestigious publishers, translated into more than forty languages, and sold millions of copies worldwide.

Throughout his career, he has received numerous awards, including the Planeta Prize, the Short Story Prize of the Second Buenos Aires Young Art Biennial, the Annual Literary Contest “Desde la Gente” Prize, and the CAMED Prize.
The Piadosas has exceptional audiovisual potential thanks to its blend of literary history and gothic horror. As a period film, the plot combines the visual appeal of decadent romanticism with supernatural and mysterious elements, and contains moments of intense dramatic and emotional tension. The story offers iconic characters reimagined from a dark, contemporary perspective, and a fascinating, monstrous female figure that provides a highly original reading of the literary myth. In addition, the metanarrative structure —with a modern narrator reconstructing the events— allows for two intertwined timelines.

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Miniseries, Film, TV Film.

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish, English, Russian, Portuguese, Finnish, French, Italian, Romanian, Turkish, German, Latvian, Polish, Croatian, Hungarian, Greek, Czech.