Corazon Tagubio is 17 years old. She likes girls. And it turns out she also likes her teacher, Miss Holden. Since they are at a Catholic High School, this is especially problematic. So eventually Carazon ends up staying with her relatives in the Philippines. 

The story in this culturally informative YA novel really starts a third of the way through, in metro Manila. Carazon is staying with the people that her parents had been sending money back to from the US. She starts to understand her family and their culture. But more importantly, she starts to bond with her half-brother and her cousins. When previously she felt isolated, she now has a community.

There’s a subplot about Carazon’s father being in hospital for months, which strangely avoids the issue of financial ruin that this would mean for a family like theirs. He has his own small business with a few employees, working on people’s houses, and money is tight for them. There’s no way that he could afford the high-end health insurance that would cover the enormous costs. 

The heart of the story is in the language, the names, and the mix of old and new attitudes in the  Philippines. The performance of the audiobook by Amielynn Abellera really helps here, bringing accents to life. 

Christian Perring is editor of Metapsychology Online. 

Categories: Fiction, AudioBooks

Keywords: Phillipines, YA fiction, lesbian