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