{"product_id":"9781645661382","title":"The Villa, Once Beloved - Manibo, Victor","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cu\u003eThe Villa, Once Beloved\u003c\/u\u003e by Manibo, Victor\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFormat: Hardcover with Dust Jacket\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePublished by Kensington Publishing Corp, 2025\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA dark history is unearthed amid crumbling façades in Lambda Literary fellow Victor Manibo’s new gothic tale of family, homecoming, and postcolonial vengeance . . .\u003c\/b\u003e\n\n\n\nSOME LEGACIES ARE BEST LEFT BURIED . . .\n\n\n\nVilla Sepulveda is a storied relic of the Philippines’ past: a Spanish colonial manor, its moldering stonework filled with centuries-old heirlooms, nestled in a remote coconut plantation. When their patriarch dies mysteriously, his far-flung family returns to their ancestral home. Filipino-American student Adrian Sepulveda invites his college girlfriend, Sophie, a transracial adoptee who knows little about her own Filipino heritage, to the funeral of a man who was entwined with the history of the country itself.\n\n\n\nSophie soon learns that there is more to the Sepulvedas than a grand tradition of political and entrepreneurial success. Adrian’s relatives clash viciously amid grief, confusion, and questions about the family curse that their matriarch refuses to answer. When a landslide traps them all in the villa, secrets begin to emerge, revealing sins both intimately personal and unthinkably public.\n\n\n\nSifting through fact, folklore, and fiction, Sophie finds herself at the center of a reckoning. Did a mythical demon really kill Adrian’s grandfather? How complicit are the Sepulvedas in the country’s oppressive history? As a series of ill omens befall the villa, Sophie must decide whom to trust—and whom to flee—before the family’s true legacy comes to take its revenge . . .\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003csmall\u003eProduct image is for illustration purposes only and may not be an exact representation of the product offered for sale.\u003c\/small\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Kensington Publishing Corp, 2025","offers":[{"title":"The Villa, Once Beloved \/ Very Good","offer_id":55119856927012,"sku":"9781645661382VG","price":9.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0714\/9951\/4148\/files\/public_cadbb959-04c8-4f1e-87bf-70fff6932f71.jpg?v=1781794017","url":"https:\/\/brookingsbooks.com\/products\/9781645661382","provider":"Brookings Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}