First published 1991
Rio is a spirited schoolgirl growing up in Manila during the final years of the Philippines' dictatorship. Her world pulses with American pop music and Filipino customs, where movie stars mingle with servants and the country's wealthiest man rubs shoulders with street addicts. Stories and rumors flow through the city like water. Rio watches this chaotic mix of characters as their lives intersect and collide. A beauty contest approaches. A film festival takes shape. Political tensions mount toward violence. Through it all, Rio observes the spectacle of her homeland, storing up memories that will sustain her years later when she lives in America. She will look back on these turbulent days with deep nostalgia, remembering the vibrant chaos of a country caught between tradition and modernity, between local identity and foreign influence. The adult Rio understands what the young girl could not: she was witnessing the end of an era.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, contemporary-romance
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, fish-out-of-water, nostalgia
Setting: Manila, Philippines
Period: 20th-century
272 pages · Paperback · Penguin Books