You Will Bite the Dust (Morderás el polvo)

A woman scarred by a childhood of abuse returns to her hometown with a single purpose: to kill the father who destroyed her. Set in a forgotten corner of rural Spain, this dark and haunting novel evokes the atmosphere of recent Latin American masterpieces. Written by an acclaimed screenwriter, it combines narrative power, emotional rawness, and a deeply unsettling social backdrop.

Águeda, a one-eyed pregnant woman marked by a childhood of violence, neglect, and poverty, works the night shift at a citizen helpline in Madrid. The reappearance of her father, Morueco—a brutal man who abused her physically and psychologically—through a series of anonymous phone calls awakens an irresistible desire within her: to kill him. Her relationship with Tariq, a patient and loving man, cannot soothe the hatred she carries. After suffering an emotional breakdown and fleeing the hospital where she has been admitted, she decides to return to Pedregal, the village of her childhood, and confront her past.

The journey to Pedregal becomes a descent into hell. The village, transformed and cosmetically revived by a rural repopulation initiative, feels alien to her. Tariq accompanies her, unable to grasp the depth of her pain. There, Águeda encounters remnants of her childhood—ghostlike figures, broken dolls, memories of torture and death—that reignite her trauma. Armed with a knife, she eventually enters the family home. Yet instead of carrying out her plan, she freezes before her father, who manipulates and humiliates her. Only when he strikes her does she finally explode.

Wounded, she takes refuge in the home now occupied by Gladis and her daughter Yori, two South American newcomers whose presence seems to invade her past. They inhabit her childhood space, wear her old clothes, and appropriate her memories. Learning that the village cemetery—the last physical connection she has to her mother—is to be relocated drives her further into despair. Consumed by rage, she roams the village, visits her mother’s desecrated grave, disrupts a theater performance, and eventually steals a bus to reach Club Lagarto, a former brothel where her father now works. There, after a confrontation loaded with symbolism, she kills him and burns his body along with the relics of her childhood.

Alone, she gives birth in a marshland that has been reduced to wasteland. She survives, but after her arrest, she relinquishes custody of her daughter, Circe, who remains with Tariq. Some time later, Águeda returns to Pedregal in handcuffs for the reading of a will. Facing the judgment of the community, she raises her head high. She has survived the horror, and though permanently scarred, she has finally taken control of her own story.

RELEVANT INFORMATION: Roberto Osa is a television screenwriter and director who combines his audiovisual work with written contributions to various digital media outlets.

You Will Bite the Dust is his debut novel, which won the 36th Felipe Trigo Novel Prize and was a finalist for the 2017 Nadal Prize. Dark, raw, and deeply unsettling, the story unfolds over little more than a single day and grips readers from the outset. It is a powerful tale of rural drama that blends tremendismo, Western aesthetics, and the foundations of classical tragedy. Through its symbolism, intensity, and darkness, it recalls some of the leading voices of contemporary Latin American literature, such as Mónica Ojeda and Mariana Enríquez. These qualities make the novel particularly attractive for adaptation, thanks to its emotional intensity, sustained suspense, and a complex protagonist trapped between trauma, revenge, and indecision.

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series – Miniseries – Film – TV Movie

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish.