The journalist and writer won the Planeta Prize on October 15 with her novel ‘The Maid’s Daughters’
The Madrid journalist and writer Sonsoles Ónega won on October 15th Planet Award with ‘The Maid’s Daughters’. His seventh novel addresses a classic theme of 19th century soap operas, that of babies of different social status changed at birth. In this case, they are two girls born in a Galician manor, one in the manor house and the other, the maid’s daughter, in the guards’ house.
How was ‘The Maid’s Daughters’ born?
It was born from a true story that I told on television about the exchange of some girls in a hospital in La Rioja. The story did not have further development nor did it occupy large spaces because the protagonists did not want to speak, but it seemed to me that there was a novel there. In the end, it was the fate of fate that forced two girls to live a life different from the one they were entitled to. From there begins the work of the narrator, of whom he fictionalizes and invents characters and scenarios. The result is The maid’s daughter.
The story allowed her to address themes that she has already dealt with in her previous novels, with these self-made women.
Yes, they are a constant in my novels. I can’t get rid of my way of seeing the world. My perspective is that of a woman who was born in a century in which everything is won, but I like to delve into our past because it allows me to better value everything we have achieved. So, without that prior calculation, it is natural that I come up with female characters, women that I invest with a courage that sometimes I would like for myself.
It is a fictional story but sprinkled with many events that happened in reality.
Yes, it is also a constant in my novels. I am talking about a Galician canning family from the first half of the 20th century that lived through two world wars and a civil war, the Spanish fever epidemic, which suffered shipwreck off the island of Sálvora… That is, I combine the elements of reality with those of fiction.
Did you decide to set the novel in Galicia because you know it well?
Yes, it is natural that I travel with my literature to that land because it is my refuge and, furthermore, I wanted to portray seafaring Galicia. I know that entire area very well, but I also visited the settings in which it takes place to document myself. For example, I visited canning factories and museums of families that made their fortune in that sector, like the Massó family, who employed entire towns and especially women. During the documentation process I also delved into newspaper archives, which are the documentary base of my latest books. From somewhere you have to get the details that allow you to know how people lived in a time that is not yours. Newspaper archives are true treasures.
“Call me strange but for me a perfect summer is a summer locked up writing”
Is journalism your best fishing ground to discover stories?
Yes, I imagine that each writer uses a different source. In my case, using the press is something natural for me.
When she collected the Planet she dedicated it to writers with children and to the children of writers.
The craft of writing is sacrificed and when you are a mother you expel your family from your workplace, which is your office. And by expelling them you condemn them to certain absences. It’s something I’ve thought about a lot. Being a writer is a very intimate occupation that others pay more than you. I really enjoy writing, but I understand that others don’t enjoy it as much when I’m writing. In any case, I think it was worth it. I’m glad I didn’t abandon the novel because if I had I might not have been able to pick it up again. When you leave a story you disconnect and it’s almost like starting from scratch and it’s not easy to come back.
What does writing give you?
Writing heals me; It is my balm, I can’t imagine life without writing. Call me strange but for me a perfect summer is a summer locked away writing. In any case, I still don’t know what impulse led me to start writing at 13 or 14 years old about what hurt me. From there you go on and on without a reasonable explanation. It’s like you need to share with others what you have inside, a kind of addiction… Every novel I have written has been a passionate adventure and none of them have devastated me enough to stop doing it. Quite the contrary, one novel has called for the other.
Are you already writing the next one?
This past summer I started writing and I have the story more or less clear, but I still don’t know the historical moment or anything. It is still in a very early phase.
When you win, the Planet is much more exposed to criticism. How do you face them?
Well, we live in a free country. I learn from the constructive ones and I run away like a wet cat from those whose interests I don’t recognize. In any case, the readers are so generous that when something hurts you you can hold on to them.
Is your medium-long term goal to dedicate yourself exclusively to writing?
Well, when the TV viewers, which is my occupation, no longer love me, I will value it. But it doesn’t seem like a bad retirement to me.