Arlene J. Chai

The Last Time I Saw Mother

While covering a student revolution that threatens to shake the government, a reporter on a small South Seas island discovers a tragedy leading to her own family history. By the author of The Last Time I Saw Mother. Reprint.

Eating Fire and Drinking Water

A woman is summoned home to the Phillipines by her aging mother, who, along with her aunt and her cousin, reveals the startling truth about her family's past through a series of moving, magical stories. Reprint.

"I was someone hungry for stories; more specifically, I was someone who craved after facts. I was, you see, a person with no history. Lacking this, I developed a curiosity about other's people's stories. . . ." Clara Perez is a reporter on a small South Seas island. An orphan raised by nuns, she is a young woman with origins shrouded in mystery. Full of idealistic ambition, she grows tired of the trivial assignments she's given at the daily paper, yearning to write articles of substance. So when the tiny street of Calle de Leon bursts into flames after a student demonstration--and a soldier kills an unarmed man--Clara seizes the chance to cover the explosive story. Yet after Clara rushes to the burning street to investigate the tragedy, she discovers another, more personal one involving some remarkable truths about her unknown past--ghosts, she realizes, which have been silently pursuing her all her life. And as family secrets begin to unfold, Clara's missing history slowly spreads itself out on the tumultuous backdrop of a country wracked by revolution. . . . An evocative and multilayered tale, at once political and personal, Eating Fire and Drinking Water is an extraordinary work, a powerful and pulsing novel of politics and commitment, loyalty and love, and the poignant search for truth.

A Novel

Do you understand now why I have no need for mirrors? My memory - the curse of all sinners, even those who feel only occasional remorse - is flawless. When I look into it I see what I really am... Look into the mirror Discover the colour of your heart From the author of the bestselling The Last Time I Saw Mother comes a compelling story of dark emotions and dreadful longing. On her grandmother's death, Christina Hidalgo receives an unexpected legacy - the sprawling mansion Casa Aragon, her childhood home; the prison she escaped from six years ago. It is a poisoned gift: filled with angry memories, fears and sadnesses. And yet Christina accepts it. For the time is now ripe for revenge and this house is a weapon she intends to wield against her beautiful, vain and scheming sister Serena; her grandmother's favourite, her grandmother's creation. But in the dark rooms of Casa Aragon, Christina must confront and overcome not only her manipulative sister, but her formidable grandmother who seeks to rule them both from the grave. Then finally she must stand before the priceless Medina mirror that has gazed upon this family for generations and discover the true colour of her own heart...

Arlene J. Chai

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