Isabel Allende says that the idealization of Francisco Franco, Augusto Pinochet and Adolf Hitler helps explain the presence of neo-Nazis and the electoral gains of the far right. The Chilean author made the remarks while presenting La hora antes del alba, her continuation of La casa de los espíritus, which won the 2026 Premio Planeta.
Allende said that current political conflicts, including what she described as a flirtation with authoritarianism, populism and the far right, helped inspire the book. She has long considered extending the story of Alba, a character from her 1982 novel, but only now made her the central figure of a new volume.
The novel opens with Alba after she has been tortured and raped and has lost her grandfather. Allende said the character’s challenge is to begin again without carrying resentment and anger. She described choosing how to understand oneself after trauma as a difficult inner process, and distinguished that from forgiveness.
The book is set two years after Franco’s death and includes a character wondering how long his presence will endure. Allende said Franco, Pinochet and Hitler remain in public consciousness amid what she sees as distorted understandings of history and ignorance. She also lamented that Chile had not undertaken a genuine effort to establish the truth or repair the damage caused by the country’s past.
Allende, who lives in the United States, said that divisions dating back to the Civil War remain evident there. She recalled being called a communist during a visit to Spain to research the Spanish Civil War, after criticizing Franco. “There is still an idealization of Franco, Pinochet and Hitler, which is why neo-Nazis exist and the far right wins,” she said.
The Premio Planeta finalist, Sergio Hernández, also writes about repression, memory and its lasting consequences. His novel, La añoranza, begins in Barcelona in 1959, with a young woman fleeing the Civil Guard after taking part in an anti-Franco demonstration. Hernández said his interest in Antonio Machado’s exile was the starting point for the book, and called exile one of the often-forgotten aspects of the Spanish Civil War.
Both authors said fiction can explore historical experiences in depth. Allende said she is drawn to the voices left out of conventional historical accounts, while Hernández argued that fiction can give readers access to events they did not experience themselves. La hora antes del alba received the main prize, while La añoranza was named a finalist.
Sources: elDiario.es.