Ninay

Ninay, written by Pedro A. Paterno in 1885, is the first novel made by a Filipino. Written as a way of disproving the Spaniards' accusation that the Filipinos lack culture, this novel features Filipino rituals and traditions, especially by using the pasiyam or nine-day novena for the dead as a framework for its narrative. As one chapter unfolds for every evening of the novena, the stories of two sets of lovers—Ninay and Carlos, and Loleng and Berto—are told. How their fortunes play out even as antagonists scheme to separate them form the crux of the exciting and multifaceted plot.