About the Author
Charlson Ong has published three collections of short fiction: Men of the East and Other Stories which won the National Book Award; Woman of Amkaw and Other Stories which won the UP President’s Award; and Conversion and Other Fictions as well as two other novels: Banyaga, A Song of War which won the 2011 National Book Award; and Blue Angel, White Shadow which won the 2011 National Book Award. He teaches Creative Writing at the Department of English and Comparative Literature, College of Arts and Letters, UP Diliman.

About the book:
Publisher: University of the Philippines Press
Copyright 2000
ISBN 978971542202-4
436 pages
Original language: English
Rights available: translation and/or book publication; e-book and digital downloads

Second Prize, Philippine Centennial Literary Prize for English Novel (Centennial Literary Prize 1898-1998) given by the Philippine Centennial Commission  

Synopsis:
Seeking the truth about the past
On the Victorianas, a Pacific island west of the Philippines, the dictator, General Azurin, has just died. Elections have been called. Jeffrey Kennedy Tantivo, in self-exile in the Philippines, is summoned home by Jennifer Suarez Sy, daughter and heiress to the island nation’s richest tycoon. Jennifer is running for President and she wants Jeffrey to help run her campaign.
While Jeffrey was in exile, his father Carlos had died under mysterious circumstances. Jeffrey suspects his father’s aide, Echevaria, and he wants to find out the truth and reclaim his father’s fortune.
Jeffrey returns to a country very different from that he had left behind. His sister, Jasmine, is now a leader of the underground Liberation movement; his old friend Ignacio Manalo is adviser to Jennifer Sy; and Echevaria has become transformed into the charismatic preacher Brother Mike Verano. There are also the enigmatic feng shui master, Aldoux Chang, Jennifer’s “spiritual” adviser, and the mysterious Alfonso Ong, who is building a 21st-century city on an island off the Victorianas.
At first, Jeffrey believes his personal and political motives for returning to his birthplace are complementary. But as the novel unfolds, things become more complex and Jeffrey begins to realize the hidden truth about his past.

 

For further information please contact:

Galileo Zafra
E-mail: [email protected]