Isabel Allende wins Premio Planeta 2026 with sequel to La casa de los espíritus

A sequel 45 years in the making

Isabel Allende's new novel, La hora antes del alba, picks up the story of Alba, granddaughter of Esteban Trueba and Clara del Valle from La casa de los espíritus. Readers had written to the author for years asking what became of the character, and Allende says the idea took shape on a ferry between Montevideo and Buenos Aires during a book tour. El Mundo and eldiario.es count 45 years since the original novel, while El País gives 44. Allende wrote the book at her home in San Rafael, California, according to El Mundo.

Alba's story

The novel begins with Alba tortured and raped, and after the loss of her grandfather, according to eldiario.es. El País reports that she regains her freedom after being arrested and tortured by the regime, and then faces the loss of her family, the disappearance of her beloved, an uncertain pregnancy and a persecution that does not end. El Confidencial notes that the violence comes from the Pinochet dictatorship, although the novel never names Pinochet. Allende's own exile followed the coup and the death of her uncle Salvador Allende, according to El Confidencial. El Mundo reports that her first book was written at night in a kitchen in Caracas, where she had gone into exile with her family.

The prize and the publisher

Allende won the Premio Planeta 2026 in October, ahead of finalist Sergio Hernández, whose novel La añoranza deals with Machado's exile and Francoism, according to El Confidencial. ABC reports that Allende had decided to step back from promotional tours after a tour of Chile, Uruguay and Argentina, but the prize required nominees to attend the ceremony in Spain, and she said travel is hard for her. ABC also reports that she entered the prize under the pseudonym Luz Ventura and that the new publisher competes directly with Penguin, where she had long-standing ties. Neither she nor Hernández is giving individual interviews, eldiario.es reports. The first print run is 210,000 copies, and Allende has sold more than 80 million books, translated into 42 languages, according to El Mundo.

Warnings on authoritarianism

In an email interview with El País, Allende said the novel reflects a present in which the far right is advancing again and despots attract fascination. She wrote that the Trump era had heightened her anguish and that AI would widen the gap between people with knowledge and resources and those without. She warned about extremes on both sides.

“Several democracies are in danger. Be wary of the far right and the far left. Authoritarianism does not solve problems, it accentuates them.”

At the Real Academia Española presentation, moderated by Sonsoles Ónega, she said she was happy about the setback for Trumpism in the US midterm elections, arguing it could at least curb abuse and corruption. She also said she feared young people flirting with authoritarianism and the far right, believing those movements offer solutions when they create more problems.

Memory, forgiveness and Franco

Allende and Hernández both stressed that memory should not turn into a grudge, and El Confidencial reports that both novels have been described as reconciling. Allende said something involving her daughter Paula had marked her life, but she had chosen to read it as ignorance and negligence rather than malice.

“One does not forget, but one forgives, that is the idea. Memory is important, but you cannot carry resentment.”

In eldiario.es's interview, Allende described Alba choosing not to carry resentment rather than choosing forgiveness, calling resentment a sack of stones strapped to the back. The novel is set two years after Franco's death, and Allende argued that Franco, Pinochet and Hitler are still idealized, a view she linked to neo-Nazis and the rise of the far right.