BCB Forgiving Imelda Marcos

Forgiving Imelda Marcos : A Novel 
Nathan Go
FRONTLIST | On Sale Date: June 13, 2023
9780374606947, 0374606943
Hardcover with dust jacket
Fiction / Literary / Filipinx / AAPI

Nathan Go’s taut meditation on forgiveness and regret is told in the indelible voice of a Filipino chauffeur nearing the end of his life.

After suffering a serious heart injury, Lito Macaraeg reaches out to his estranged son—a journalist who lives in the United States, far from his father’s Manila nursing home—to promise him a scoop: the story of a secret meeting between Imelda Marcos, the flamboyant wife of the late dictator, and Corazon Aquino, whose husband this dictator allegedly killed.

Lito, Corazon’s chauffeur, was her only companion that night. Throughout the long drive to Imelda’s estate, his loyalty to his employer is pitted against his own moral uncertainty about her intentions. Years later, as he tells this story, his own failings come to light. He delves into his past: his neglectful father, who joined a Communist guerrilla movement; their life in a mountain encampment headed by a charismatic priest; and Lito’s struggles with poverty and ambition. In Forgiving Imelda Marcos, Nathan Go weaves a deeply intimate novel of alternative history that explores power and powerlessness, the nature of guilt, and what we owe to those we love.