Romantic afternoon at the Book Fair: Florencia Bonelli revealed the story she's working on as she reunites with her readers.

Silence in the José Hernández room at the 49th Buenos Aires Book Fair. He speaks to an audience composed of 95% women. Florencia Bonelli , the queen of Argentine romantic and historical novels. This Saturday, the writer presented her latest novel, La Casa Neville 3: Yo soy el viento (Neville House 3: I Am the Wind ), the final installment of a trilogy starring Manon Neville, a young woman from English high society who, in the mid-19th century, runs the kingdom's most important bank with her father.

Bonelli's encounter with her readers is what it meant for the ricoteros to make the pilgrimage to the sporadic recitals given by Indio Solari. The "bonellistas" come from all provinces, even from Uruguay, to hear the writer, who will likely perform in public for the only time this year . There is a bond between her and them, forged over decades, considering that 26 years ago Bonelli abandoned accounting —she is an accountant by profession—to dedicate herself fully to writing.

The Bonellistas queued for over an hour to get their place in the room, and then another hour, around the main dance floor at La Rural, for the writer to sign one of their books at the Planeta stand, the publisher that took over her publications more than three years ago. They recognize each other because they maintain virtual contact throughout the year ; they become virtual friends at the fair; they also recognize Bonelli's own universe, which includes her parents, who always sit in the front row at all her presentations.

Fans can also be identified as they wander around the fair, packed on its second weekend after opening, by the T-shirts printed with her book covers and the slogan "bonellistas" embroidered on them . Bonelli is generous and returns the devotion: she signs every copy, until the candles burn out, and recognizes those who have followed her forever.

The writer spoke for nearly an hour with Gachy Santone, a journalist and broadcaster from Rosario, about the historical and social context she explored in the Neville trilogy. It brings to the present the atmosphere of 19th-century London , before the Industrial Revolution erupted, when the British Empire dominated the world's seas, trade, and banking. Manon Neville emerges in that world as a strong character , with a voice, a vote, and decisions that have economic implications for the economic and power empire her family manages. In the middle, of course, is the love story with the son of another powerful man and protagonist of another of her books, Alexander Blackraven, because, as the writer maintained, "thank goodness love appears; it's the only thing that makes this life worth living."

“When I set out to create Manon, I said, 'It's not plausible' ; you couldn't give such a young woman that role, to be at the head of a bank. But through my research, I found that there were women, like Gracia Nasí, a Renaissance banker, or Lady Sarah Child-Villiers, who remained at the head of Child & Co,” she said. “This idea of ​​women not being accepted, not being looked after, isn't quite like that. If a woman had the opportunity to achieve her potential, to prove herself, she was respected, ” she added. “We have this idea of ​​women being completely sidelined, marginalized, repressed, which was true, but throughout history you see impressive characters .”

Bonelli's skill lies not only in the universes she creates, where characters jump and unexpectedly appear from one book to another, in the very different and thorny topics she touches on - from the war in the Congo over coltan, through the rapes and atrocities during the Balkan war, the illegal sale of raw materials to manufacture nuclear weapons, Down syndrome, autism and drug addiction - but in the astuteness with which she redirects her female characters to current times.

If at the beginning Bonelli's protagonists were women who appeared weaker than their male counterparts, who appeared as wealthy, strong heroes who could provide protection, now they are the strong, empowered ones who can provide for themselves. Without applying obvious cliché feminism, the writer adapted to the times , even placing Manon Neville in London, in the first half of the 19th century. But above all, Bonelli knows that it is best not to lecture with postures , but rather to suggest social criticism in a veiled way in her books (without going any further, in the Neville House trilogy she mentions a negotiation for the Falkland Islands, which have just been invaded by the British Empire, or even has her characters exchange opinions on monetary policy ).

Bonelli, the queen of the romance novel, gets an audience to listen to her talk about 19th-century economics for an hour. “The City is the center of financial power today. The entire financial system, the very rich people—if you analyze their portfolios, 80% is mining. It's the basic raw material for all electronics, for example,” she explains. Her writers listen attentively and know what she's talking about because not only is the Famatina mountain in La Rioja an omnipresent character in her latest book, whose exploitation is disputed in London, but she has also addressed the wars in the Congo over coltan in her trilogy, Caballo de Fuego.

The "bonellistas" barely break the silence of mass to sigh unanimously when the writer speaks of Alexander Blackraven , the male protagonist who is also the son of the couple who starred in another novel published more than ten years ago, The Fourth Arcane . The universes of different stories that she revisits in her novels are an element much celebrated by her readers, but she warns them that this has an expiration date: the characters grow up, enter old age, run out of steam, and, as the writer clarifies, "I don't kill my children."

On the one hand, Bonelli is presenting a children's book, The Prince of the Forest, inspired, he said, "by my mother's absolute lack of imagination." "It's a lot of fun writing for children, perhaps because I feel freer. When I write for adults, I cling to reality, I pretend to denounce things, whereas I relax when I write for children ." Here, he also allows himself to flirt with the fantasy genre, but he has already warned that he will not address it in his books for adults.

And the spoiler moment. On the one hand, Bonelli revealed that there could be a sequel to The Neville House, at least for some of its characters. Spin-offs have been a constant in his work. For example, the Fire Horse trilogy arose from What Your Eyes Say , and The Story of Diana arose from Fire Horse. Universes and more universes merging.

Second spoiler: we might not expect a new book from Bonelli anytime soon. The writer revealed that she's currently in the research phase for her new project , which she only said will be contemporary.