Manyebook

Baby Jesus Pawn Shop

In steamy, corruption-ridden Manila, at

the height of Ferdinand Marcos' brutal

regime, two unlikely young lovers come

together: Rue Caldwell, the wife of an

American counter-insurgency specialist

and Doming Aquinaldo, a Filipino dissident

working under a secret identity as

chauffeur for Rue's husband. Doming is

honor-bound to avenge his father's murder,

but resists fighting brutality with

more violence, choosing instead to be a

conduit for information. Rue, who avoids

acknowledging the suffering that is

veiled by her privileged lifestyle, represents

all that Doming despises. However,

the more she sees, the more she realizes

that her husband and country are on the

wrong side in the Philippines' conflict.

As the violence in the country escalates,

Rue and Doming find refuge in each

other through their loneliness, their

awakening conscience and their common

experience of betrayal and exile.

Doming soon abandons his role as

informant embarking on a perilous journey

to his rural home in search of a "disappeared"

sister as Rue's life becomes

more deeply intertwined with the Marcos

regime. When an insurgent bomb attack

goes horribly awry, government reprisals

take the lives of dozens of innocent

Filipinos as well as an American journalist

who was trying to expose corruption.

Doming, realizing that Rue and her husband

are at risk of becoming "collateral

damage," is now compelled to make a

difficult choice or else find the narrow

way between his love for Rue, his duty to

his country and the wisdom of his heart.

Part political thriller, part love story,

Baby Jesus Pawn Shop explores the

struggle of two ordinary individuals to

lead a moral life when reality defies conventional

notions of right and wrong.

  • Format
  • hardcover
  • Pages
  • 381
  • Language
  • english
  • ISBN
  • 9781579621704
  • Genres
  • fiction
  • Release date
  • 2008