Uniquely precocious within the Hispanic fiction -published when author Ana Maria Matute was 22 years old- «Los Abel» reached the finals of the 1947 Nadal prize. It was positively received, due both to the prestige of the prize and the surprise created by the rising of this feminine youthful voice that continued the disruption created by Carmen Laforet"s «Nada». However the canonical critique proved unable to fully appreciate the originality of this novel that, baffling censors, trespassed the Spanish dictatorship moral order for women and set the Spanish novel within the trend of universal fiction. The struggle between good and evil, so vivid during and after the Spanish civil war, constitutes a recurring subject in Matute"s novels. Child of the triumphant side, Matute never celebrated victory. Far from that, her civil war literature deals mainly with the pain of brotherly fight: a central issue in «Los Abel». This issue is intertwined with Valba"s -the main caracter- development,...