Critical Praise

"A wrenching first novel filled with the sights, sounds and smells of Manila under martial law."

——Booklist

"Bino A. Realuyo proves that the telling of a novelist's heart and country is contained in the smallest movement of moments. Word upon lyrical word, his novel is beauty that dwells like a beloved's lingering ache, a beloved's familiar voice."

——Lois-Ann Yamanaka author of Blu's Hanging

"A lyrical first novel limns a troubled coming-of-age in 1970s Manila, where deviance and difference are punished by silence or brutality...An evocative and subtly different take on the loss of innocence. A promising debut."

——Kirkus Reviews

"Heartbreaking . . . Poet Realuyo assembles a powerful array of characters for this coming of age novel."

——Publishers Weekly