Sonsoles Ónega wins the Planeta Prize with 'Las hijas de la criada'

Sonsoles Ónega has won the 72nd edition of the Planeta Prize with Las hijas de la criada (The Maid's Daughters), a historical novel straddling her native Galicia and Cuba, featuring a family saga starring three generations of women. In second place was the very young Alfonso Goizueta with La sangre del padre (The Father's Blood), another historical novel but, in this case, focused on the figure of Alexander the Great. Both novels will be published on November 8.

"I thought I had already done the most difficult live broadcasts of my life, but it's clear that I still had something beautiful reserved and I confess it's the most difficult of my life," said the popular television presenter immediately after collecting the award at the gala held this Sunday at the MNAC. Among the audience, at the back of the room, was her sister, Cristina Ónega, whom some distracted person might confuse with the Planeta winner. Visibly emotional, she did not stop recording her sister's entire speech with her mobile phone, who remembered her father, also journalist Fernando Ónega.

Sonsoles Ónega, who has admitted that she has submitted to all possible literary awards, had never imagined that she would win the Planeta Prize, the best endowed in the world with 1 million euros. "I never dreamed of it in my life," she remarked. The also journalist confessed that she has been writing all her life, even stories that would make her blush if she reread them.

Now more self-assured, Ónega explained that in Las hijas de la criada she travels back in time to Galicia in 1900, with a family of canning entrepreneurs who made "an empire out of a can," giving recognition to all the women who worked at sea and remained invisible. Thinking about the possibilities of destiny, it begins with "a cruel revenge," the exchange in the cradle of two newborn girls, that of the lady and that of the maid, both pregnant by the master. This detail is based on a news story she explained a few years ago, about sisters from Logroño, whom she could not get to appear on camera but who did inspire her.

"It has been a difficult novel," said the Madrid-born author, saying that she has written it for three years with many professional changes and doing it when she could, in television dressing rooms, weekends, and summers. And she is already writing her next book, although she did not want to give more details, she only asked for three more years to finish it.

With Las hijas de la criada, the writer already has seven novels published and exactly 19 years have passed since the first. It was published in 2004 and is titled Calle Habana, esquina Obispo, with a plot that tells of a family fighting against Fidel Castro's regime in the 90s. She has also written Donde Dios no estuvo, focused on the 11-M terrorist attack to trace the story of different characters who took the train that Thursday in 2004.

It was with Después del amor (2017) that the communicator won the Fernando Lara Novel Prize. In this case, it was also set in a historical episode of the country's recent history. Based on real events, it focused on the Second Republic to follow the story of a couple also through the Civil War and exile. Other of her titles are Encuentros en Bonaval (2010) and Mil besos prohibidos (2022). Some of them are out of print and she has taken the opportunity to ask her publisher if they can do something.

Sonsoles Ónega has won the award in an edition, once again, with a record participation. A total of 1,129 manuscripts have been submitted to the 72nd Planeta Prize, about 500 more than in 2022, when there were 845, almost 200 more than the previous year. The fact that this 2023 allowed for the first time the reception of copies via email partly explains this year's exponential increase. However, this growth has been intensifying in recent years since the prize money was increased to one million euros in 2021.

Finalist at 23 years old

Goizueta has become a finalist in the 72nd edition of the Planeta with his first novel and only 23 years old, a fact that has revolutionized the audience present at the ceremony, with a more mature majority and few such novel attendees. "Starting a literary career like this is an honor," said the Madrid author. He wrote the novel during the pandemic and it started as a short story, but his grandfather already warned him that the story of Alexander the Great needed more body. It follows his figure from when he was a child to see what remained behind the myth, "a man who left home looking for himself and in that we all are."