Strokes of Light (Golpes de luz)

Three generations of a Galician family live under the same roof: an eccentric grandmother who seems to inhabit a world of her own, a mother trying to rebuild her life after a separation, and a boy who turns every event into an adventure. When the grandmother suddenly disappears, a series of family secrets comes to light, leading mother and son to discover that their family’s past is much closer than they ever imagined.

In a house in Galicia, three generations of a family live together under the shadow of a secret buried for decades. Luz Divina Rodríguez, an almost eighty-year-old woman whose mental health issues have never been properly diagnosed, lives with her daughter Julia, a recently separated journalist, and her ten-year-old grandson Sebas.

Luz refuses to take her medication, smokes in secret, and, above all, never goes anywhere without an old hammer. For Sebas, an avid comic-book reader and inseparable friend of Noa and Guerrero, the explanation is obvious: his grandmother is Thor. One stormy night, when he sees her crossing the garden in her nightgown, gripping the hammer in her hand, fantasy seems to come alive.

Then Luz disappears, and what began as a child’s game becomes a desperate search. Julia mobilizes the police and the neighbors, while Sebas launches his own investigation alongside his friends, convinced that his grandmother has gone off to confront the “God Butcher,” a mysterious man who had once chased them through the hills with a sickle. Eventually, the children find Luz wounded among a patch of brambles, still clutching her hammer. Doctors diagnose her with a mild stroke.

During her recovery, Julia discovers a hidden pistol in the house and an old trunk concealed in the attic containing ninety-seven million pesetas. The discovery pushes her to investigate the past of her father, Martín Novoa, known as “the Argentine,” whom she had always been told emigrated when she was a child. Her inquiries lead her to the Bar Seco, a place connected to the Galician drug trade of the 1980s, where she uncovers the truth: Martín had been involved in drug trafficking and had betrayed the feared Colombian trafficker Lucio Rincón, known as “Lucifer,” stealing a major shipment before disappearing without a trace.

The investigation finally forces Luz to confront what she has hidden all her life. After destroying the trunk and the notebook in which Martín recorded his dealings, she reveals the truth. Years earlier, one night after returning home drunk, Martín assaulted his family and threatened Julia. After enduring years of abuse, Luz picked up the hammer and killed him to protect her daughter. She later buried his body in the garden and invented the story that he had emigrated to Argentina. She also hid the stolen money, convinced that one day it might help secure Julia’s future.

The revelation shakes Julia to her core, but it also allows her to understand the sacrifice and desperation that drove her mother to act. Choosing not to turn her in, mother and daughter exhume Martín’s remains and confront the weight of the past together. Then Luz throws the hammer into the grave and buries it alongside her husband’s bones, symbolically bringing an end to decades of fear, guilt, and silence.

For the first time, mother and daughter are able to reconcile, while Sebas remains convinced that his grandmother really is Thor, even if the hammer has disappeared. Gradually, the family begins building a new normality on the ruins of a secret that shaped their lives for generations.

RELEVANT INFORMATION: Golpes de luz is a story told through three unforgettable and vividly realistic voices: Julia, Luz, and Sebas. Its layered characters are filled with mystery, tenderness, and, above all, humor in their portrayal of family relationships.

Ledicia Costas has established herself as one of the most prominent voices in contemporary Spanish-language fiction. The author of several bestsellers, her works have been translated into multiple languages and have earned major literary distinctions, including the National Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature and the Lazarillo Prize, which she has received twice.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM

“A story told through three voices from different generations, exploring themes such as caring for the elderly, childhood fantasy, heroin trafficking in Galicia, the Marvel universe, and the challenges of work-life balance.” — El Periódico

“Ledicia Costas’s new novel, somewhere between fiction about the Galician drug trade and Stranger Things.” — ElDiario

“Ledicia Costas offers a different perspective on this controversial subject while making room for care, humor, and the search for truth and identity.” — El Español

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Limited Series, Feature Film, TV Movie.

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish, Galician, German.