On Thursday, October 15, it was announced that Chilean author Isabel Allende has won the 75th edition of the Planeta Prize for her novel «La hora antes del alba,» a sequel to «La casa de los espíritus.»
Allende received this prestigious award, which includes a prize of 1 million euros, during a ceremony attended by the King and Queen of Spain, Felipe VI and Letizia. During her speech, she highlighted the troubling current political climate in both the United States and Latin America, where extremist rhetoric is gaining ground and making significant inroads into positions of power.
«Forty-five years ago, I wrote La casa de los espíritus, which ends with the granddaughter of patriarch Esteban Trueba recounting her family’s history. Alba has been arrested, tortured, raped, and mutilated, but they have not been able to take away her dignity,» Allende remarked about the plot of her new novel, which centers around Alba.
The 84-year-old author confirmed at the award ceremony that this novel concludes the saga started in «La casa de los espíritus.»
The Spanish newspaper El Mundo provided further insights into the book and its relevance to today’s world: «The novel begins when Alba, who has been imprisoned and tortured, returns to her family home… pregnant. Narrated in the third person but occasionally shifting to the first, La hora antes del alba emerges as a voice against oppression: the protagonist transitions from being a victim paralyzed by fear and pain to chronicling a tumultuous era.»
For Isabel Allende, «the theme is in the air… Now I see so many democracies threatened by authoritarianism, extreme nationalism, and even fascism… I am feeling the same fear that compelled me to leave my country after the military coup in 1973,» stated the author, who has resided in the U.S. for many years.
Cover Photo: EFE Agency
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