A rat infestation in the city of Ubec, Philippines in the year 1909 led to the discovery of a dead body, which was later identified as that of a priest.
Around this plot revolves the story and life of Ines Maceda with sub-themes on friendship, teenage romance and same-sex relationship in a book that is aptly titled, The Newspaper Widow.
Written by Filipino American author Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, The Newspaper Widow takes readers into the not-so-distant past when social media did not rule the world. There were no digital cameras, no tape recorders and certainly, no camera phones which make it easy to upload and share photos.
In this book, Brainard encapsulated the tune of that time while introducing characters who were rebels, who refused to conform to set norms and standards, who dared to defy them and come out stronger albeit scarred and bruised.
This is not a non-linear approach to a suspense novel; it is a story of woman and her struggle to find herself in the greater scheme of things. It just so happened – in Brainard’s creative mind transformed into a novel – that a murder was committed as our protagonist, Ines Maceda, was trying to make sense of her life.
There were parts which I found hurried though. For instance, Ines and her friend’s Melisande’s “discovery” of the identity of the murderer was quite shaky. I felt that one visit to a place was not enough to determine the culprit; the way the narrative unfolded was short on details.
The novel resonated with me because of the newspaper “angle”. Being a journalist, this one immediately piqued my interest. I was curious to read what happens in the story when my good friend Hendri Go sent me two chapters of the book in preparation for my interview with Brainard as part of her book talk during the Cebu Literary Festival last month.
Brainard said this book was inspired by his great grandmother Remedios Diosomito Cuenco, who was widowed at the age of 39 and took over her husband’s Imprenta Rosario press.
The Newspaper Widow was my companion during my trip last week to Singapore and Malaysia. If I have to give it a score with 10 being the highest, I would give it an eight Ines Maceda may be the primary character but her friend Melisande’s love story is a subject of deeper discussion.
My first Brainard book did not disappoint.
I encourage those who need a crash course on what was Cebu like in the 1900s to read this and then follow up with non-fiction accounts or books published by the University of San Carlos Press. Several of them are displayed and sold at the PhiloSophia Library Café on National Highway in Mandaue City, Cebu. Those who want to purchase a copy of The Newspaper Widow can checkout the Facebook page and blog of Cecilia Brainard for details.
From here, I will move on to read Magdalena, which the author gave to me as a gift after our fun onstage conversation.
