Why a Booktrail?
1970s, 1990s: The dark underbelly of the Philippines is revealed at the pace of a thriller….
The Breath of Night
What you need to know before your trail
A missionary priest called Julian Tremayne is working in the Philippines. He spends time in prison for the murder of a local military man and then himself dies mysteriously.
Thirty years after his death he is a revered man and people are calling for him to be made a saint. He is now almost a cult-like figure. But is everything as it seems?
Philip Seward is the man sent out on behalf of Julian’s family to investigate.
What he enters is a world of trouble.
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The Breath of Night is an extraordinary and vivid account of the wealth, extreme poverty, corruption and oppression of a country and its people. Letters home reveal the changes of a country in turmoil, his faith, and of even the beauty of a country that starts to see change like the picture of Dorian Gray, the beautiful colours and the paint flakes leaving behind something quite changed
Philip enters the underbelly of Filipino society. He is the ‘innocent foreigner abroad’ and the novel is an exploration of what he finds and what he thinks about events and people he encounters. This is an interesting angle and one which adds much to the detail of the book – the innocent foreigner abroad on an investigative journey is ripe for finding detail and experiences not found elsewhere.
“Two rows of Spanish colonial houses all cracked white stucco and fretwork shutters, half hidden by thick-boughed frangipani and acacia trees, plus two small general stores, occupy the north and south. In the centre are a statue of the national hero, Jose Rizal, four weather-stone benches and a dried up water trough.”
The Breath of Night is an extraordinary and vivid account of the wealth, extreme poverty, corruption and oppression of a country and its people.
Breath of Night is a very sensitive interpretation of religious feelings and the interplay of reality and fiction. it shows evocative sort of beauty against a backdrop of lust and heat. You will be more than transported by this novel – you will feel the heat on your face and the beads of perspiration through sweltering temperatures and deep rooted fear.
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