Sonsoles Ónega: “I have written this new novel with rage. What was said about the previous one violated my soul” | Culture | EUROtoday

“I never imagined that what I wrote would carry my name,” the journalist and author Sonsoles Ónega stated via tears this afternoon on the L’Hardy restaurant in Madrid. Opened in 1839 and a silent witness to historical past from the very heart of the city and courtroom, the restaurant is the best setting to really feel like you’re within the nineteenth century. And, for that cause, it was the right place chosen by Ónega to current her new novel, will bear your identify (Planeta), the primary to be revealed after the overwhelming phenomenon that was The maid’s daughterswith which in 2023 he gained the coveted Planeta Prize.

Ónega (Madrid, 48 years outdated) is among the most recognizable voices in journalism and tv in Spain, however the fact is that he has a literary profession that has all the time had an affect—typically huge—on bookstores. Trained within the editorial workplace of CNN+ and with a great a part of her profession as a parliamentary reporter on Telecinco, she later turned a presenter of large-format packages and magazines. Since 2022, he has hosted the night program And now Sonsoleson Antena 3, combining his tv work with writing. His bibliography started in 2005, when he revealed his first work, Havana Street, Obispo nook. And but, Ónega’s literary turning level got here in 2023 with The maid’s daughtersa piece with which he gained the Planeta Novel Prize – price a million euros – in its 72nd version. The novel adopted the saga of a Galician household within the canning business throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Since its publication in November 2023, the ebook rapidly established itself as a publishing phenomenon: it was the best-selling fiction ebook in Spain on the finish of that 12 months and continued to guide the gross sales charts in 2024, reaching greater than 20 editions and exceeding half one million copies, based on Planeta figures. Despite this resounding industrial success, The maid’s daughters was not exempt from unfavorable criticism – “The feeling of ridiculousness is suffocating. Because of the plot, because of the style, because of the prudery, because of the staleness, because of the simplicity,” he wrote in his harsh criticism in Babelia Jordi Gracia—. However, the affect of the novel on readers was plain and its collection adaptation premiered on the finish of final 12 months.

“I have written this new novel with anger, to prove myself and demonstrate that the award was not a coincidence. In a way of vindication,” Ónega defined this Wednesday. “Things were said with The maid’s daughters that violated my soul. Playing with the vocation was very painful. My vocation as a writer was questioned, and it hurt me tremendously. You can say that the novel is shit. But am I a product? No and no”, he said.

Historical fictions, romances (historic and up to date) and a few thriller they mark his bibliography. will bear your identify It is his eighth novel and, as The maid’s daughters o After love, is positioned in a historic context. Set in Spain on the finish of the nineteenth century (the story begins in 1882), will bear your identify tells the story of Mada Riva, a younger lady accused of against the law in her city (Comillas) who’s pressured to flee to guard her household honor. In Madrid, Mada tries to rebuild her life and reclaim her identification in a society accustomed to decreasing girls; as a result of the feminine characters and the structural difficulties they face are one other of the trademark themes of Ónega’s home. “It has cost me more to write this novel,” he confessed within the presentation. “Literature expels family, friends… Virginia Woolf was very smart about having her own room, especially in a professional world with so much noise,” she refers, in fact, to her each day work as a journalist. Do you assume there’s a particular hostility from critics in the direction of the determine of the presenter-writer? “There has always been a conflict between the writer who is cherished by critics and the writer cherished by readers. And I choose the latter,” she said, within the presentation organized by Planeta, wherein there was a small interlude wherein Anabel Alonso performed Sister Vicenta María (an actual character recovered for the ebook; a nun who took younger ladies off the streets and taught them a commerce), and Lucía de la Fuente performed the protagonist, Mada Rivas.

“I wanted to delve into the 19th century,” stated Ónega. “It was a fabulous moment for the first times. At this time, women discover culture to save themselves and to vindicate themselves, and I think it is a great moment to talk about an environment in which women are beginning to get their heads out of the hole.” And the current? Are we dwelling in a time of anti-intellectualism immediately? “I’m not sure. I think it’s read more than ever, and there’s so much talk about books that supermarkets sell, which I love, and about David Uclés. Whom I hope to sign in September…” she slipped, laughing. A candy environment instantly fills the room. The waiters deliver out the restaurant’s typical dessert, the well-known L’Hardy soufflé. It smells like vanilla, which mixes with different smells: one thing stable is cooking within the kitchen. In the eating room, nonetheless, one thing extra elusive and beneficial is brewing: a future literary success.