The Villa, Once Beloved
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- 15,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
A dark history is unearthed amid crumbling façades in Lambda Literary fellow Victor Manibo’s new gothic tale of family, homecoming, and postcolonial vengeance . . .
SOME LEGACIES ARE BEST LEFT BURIED . . .
Villa Sepulveda is a storied relic of the Philippines’ past: a Spanish colonial manor, its moldering stonework filled with centuries-old heirlooms, nestled in a remote coconut plantation. When their patriarch dies mysteriously, his far-flung family returns to their ancestral home. Filipino-American student Adrian Sepulveda invites his college girlfriend, Sophie, a transracial adoptee who knows little about her own Filipino heritage, to the funeral of a man who was entwined with the history of the country itself.
Sophie soon learns that there is more to the Sepulvedas than a grand tradition of political and entrepreneurial success. Adrian’s relatives clash viciously amid grief, confusion, and questions about the family curse that their matriarch refuses to answer. When a landslide traps them all in the villa, secrets begin to emerge, revealing sins both intimately personal and unthinkably public.
Sifting through fact, folklore, and fiction, Sophie finds herself at the center of a reckoning. Did a mythical demon really kill Adrian’s grandfather? How complicit are the Sepulvedas in the country’s oppressive history? As a series of ill omens befall the villa, Sophie must decide whom to trust—and whom to flee—before the family’s true legacy comes to take its revenge . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Manibo (Escape Velocity) suffuses family drama with gothic menace in this messy supernatural thriller. Sophie, who was born in the Philippines, grew up with adoptive parents in a tiny Nebraska town. When her boyfriend Adrian Sepulveda's grandfather dies, she flies with him to her home country for the first time since childhood. The Villa Sepulveda, a Spanish colonial manor in the middle of a remote coconut plantation, has been in Adrian's family for decades—during which his wealthy ancestors rubbed elbows with dictators and exploited farmers. From the moment Sophie and Adrian land in the Philippines, things start to go wrong. A typhoon nearly prevents them from making it to the villa, and a landslide ruins the family's hopes of a grand funeral. As the misfortunes stack up, Sophie learns of a supposed curse placed on the clan as punishment for their dark history. She tries to dismiss it as superstitious nonsense, but further catastrophes make her doubt herself, and she soon finds that the family's sins are greater than she imagined. Manibo has ambition to spare, but wonky pacing and an excessive focus on dry family lore weigh the narrative down. By the time this reaches the finish line, most readers will have lost interest.
