TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Library Journal Book Review of Cecilia Brainard's Novel The Newspaper Widow

Thursday, August 5, 2021

Library Journal Book Review of Cecilia Brainard's Novel The Newspaper Widow

Book Review Library Journal August 2021
Mystery
The Newspaper Widow by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
PALH, Sept. 2021
252 p. ISBN 9781953716149 pap $17.95 M
When her husband dies in 1909, Ines Maceda inherits his newspaper, which is running out of audience and funds; she soon finds that she’s good at both the money side and the reporting side. The paper gets a scoop about the discovery of the body of a priest who had been missing several months, but any pleasure in Ines’s coup is dampened when her son Andres is imprisoned on suspicion of murdering the priest, whose past turns out to be shadier than imagined. What follows is part detective story and part historical fiction, set in the Philippines seven years after the conclusion of the Philippine-American War (1899-1902) that cemented U.S. occupation of the islands. The mystery elements are competently plotted, and the characters appealing, and there’s a charming long-distance romance, with a hint of another yet to come. The book’s signal virtue, though, is its bighearted look at Filipino culture and society in 1909. With 23 books to her name, Brainard (Magdalena) is hardly a novice, but most of her works have appeared out of small presses (including her own Philippine American Literary House), so she might be a new addition to library collections.
VERDICT An old-fashioned novel isn’t a bad thing when it’s as well done as this one about people growing, loving, and rectifying past mistakes.
Review by David Keymer, Cleveland, July 16, 2021

A DIFFERENT KIND OF MYSTERY/DETECTIVE NOVEL

SHORTLISTED IN THE INAUGURAL CIRILO F. BAUTISTA PRIZE FOR THE NOVEL

Finalist for the 37th National Book Award in the Philippines

The Newspaper Widow by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, available from Amazon in paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1953716148

Check out Barnes and Noble, and Eastwind Books of Berkeley

Available also in Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Newspaper-Widow.../dp/B09BP6QRWH

In the Philippines, look for it in Lazada and Shopee.

tags: #bookreview #womensleuths #mystery #detective #philippinesbooks #Philippinesliterature

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books.. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized. Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.