{"product_id":"the-villa-once-beloved","title":"The Villa, Once Beloved","description":"\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 \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eSOME LEGACIES ARE BEST LEFT BURIED . . .\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eVilla 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSophie 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSifting 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 . . .","brand":"Erewhon Books","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48515351707897,"sku":"9781645661382","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/1811\/7625\/files\/imageloader_6d4f31e4-9e87-40c2-8d39-0cce03547617.jpg?v=1781207615","url":"https:\/\/hookeandplotte.com\/products\/the-villa-once-beloved","provider":"Hooke and Plotte Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}