Las Tierras Arrasadas / The Destroyed Lands

Epitafio y Estela son miembros de una organización criminal dedicada al tráfico de personas, cuyas víctimas son, en su gran mayoría, migrantes centroamericanos que en su afán de alcanzar mejores condiciones de vida en Estados Unidos ingresan a territorio mexicano sin imaginar que ahí se toparán con una aduana infernal marcada por la violencia, el odio y los intereses más mezquinos. La historia de amor latente entre ambos protagonistas parece anunciar la posibilidad de su absolución, pero ésta se ve frustrada fatalmente cuando el jefe de su banda, un cura desalmado, decide prescindir de ellos y les tiende a traición una trampa destinada a eliminarlos. La nueva novela de Emiliano Monge, ganador en 2012 del Premio Jaén (España), es una implacable obra sobre un mundo espeluznante, narrada con una maestría literaria inigualable. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION This work recreates the collective drama of migration in a space spoiled by misery and the morality of those who inhabit it, but also a space that gives rise to an enigmatic story of unexpected love. Epitafio and Estela are members of a criminal organization involved in human trafficking. Their victims are generally Central American migrants who enter the Mexican territory in their eagerness to reach better living conditions in the United States, without ever imagining that they will come across a diabolical customs department marked by violence, hatred, and mean-spirited interests. The story of unrequited love between the protagonists seems to portend the possibility of their absolution, but this notion is fatally thwarted when the leader of their group, a heartless priest, decides to get rid of them and lays a trap destined to eliminate them. The new novel by Emiliano Monge, winner of the 2012 Jaen Prize (Spain), is a ruthless look at a horrific world, narrated with incomparable literary mastery.