On Heroes and Tombs (Sobre héroes y tumbas)

When a solitary young man falls in love with a woman as enigmatic as she is tormented, he becomes trapped at the heart of a family torn apart by guilt, madness, and a dark secret. A drama with thriller undertones by one of the writers who shaped an entire generation… and beyond.

It all begins with a tragic piece of news: Alejandra Vidal Olmos has murdered her father and taken her own life by setting fire to the old family house. From this shocking opening, the story travels two years back to reconstruct the events that led to the tragedy.

In Parque Lezama, in Buenos Aires, young Martín del Castillo meets Alejandra, a fascinating woman—older than him, mysterious, seductive, and emotionally unstable. Drawn to her intensity, Martín plunges into a passionate and turbulent relationship that drags him into a world filled with secrets, ruins, and unhealed wounds. Alejandra lives with her father, Fernando Vidal Olmos, in a decaying mansion in the Barracas neighborhood, surrounded by eccentric relatives and a family past steeped in shadows. The Vidal Olmos family, part of Argentina’s old aristocracy, is marked by decay, guilt, and a corrosive emotional inheritance.

Insecure and searching for meaning, Martín tries to understand Alejandra and earn a place in her world. Through Bruno, an old friend of her parents, he gradually uncovers fragments of the family’s past: the premature death of Alejandra’s mother, Fernando’s oppressive power, and a disturbing, ambiguous relationship between father and daughter. Martín senses that Alejandra is trapped in a legacy of pain from which she cannot escape, while he becomes a powerless witness to her unraveling.

At the same time, the novel includes a manuscript written by Fernando, the haunting Report on the Blind, in which he recounts his obsession with a supposed secret organization led by blind people who rule the world from the shadows. It is a descent into paranoia and madness, a delirious vision that exposes the mental collapse of a man consumed by fear, repression, and inner darkness.

In 1955, in a city shaken by political violence, Alejandra makes an irreversible decision: she shoots her father while he sleeps and then commits suicide by setting herself on fire in the house’s tower. The news shocks everyone who knew her. Martín, devastated by the loss, falls into despair and wanders the streets of Buenos Aires until he is taken in by an elderly woman who cares for him and restores a fragile sense of hope.

Finally, he decides to leave the city and set out on a journey to the south in search of a new life. The novel concludes with his departure and with Bruno’s reflections, a witness to the collapse of a family, a country, and a generation.

RELEVANT INFORMATION: Ernesto Sabato was one of the most important writers of the 20th century, acclaimed by both the public and critics, as well as an Argentine painter and physicist. His works stand out for their existentialist perspective and the psychological depth of their characters. He was the recipient of the Miguel de Cervantes Prize (1984), the Jerusalem Prize, and the Menéndez Pelayo International Prize.

On Heroes and Tombs is an intense, tragic, and deeply human story about love, madness, family inheritance, and the need to break with the past in order to keep living. It has strong audiovisual potential as a drama with elements of psychological thriller and tragic romance.

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

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish, Catalan, English, Arabic, Romanian, Greek, Italian, Turkish, Portuguese, French, German, Polish, Croatian, Bengali, Russian, Albanian, Serbian, Norwegian, Slovenian, Dutch, Indonesian, Chinese, Basque.