Brainard's fresh and powerful voice fills a void in Asian-American literature with a novel steeped in the enchantment and suffering of the Filipino people. In the story of nine-year-old Yvonne's flight from the Japanese invasion and her determination to hold fast to her people's myths and legends, Brainard lays bare the real-life drama of World War II's devastating effect on the lives of the Filipinos.

When the Rainbow Goddess Wept

Literature & Fiction

Brainard, Cecilia Manguerra

Literary

Plume

Set against the backdrop of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1941, Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's brilliant novel weaves myth and legend together with the suffering and tragedies of the Filipino people. When nine-year-old Yvonne flees with her family into the jungle to join the resistance effort, she witnesses death and destruction on an almost unimaginable scale. In the face of terror and despair, she finds comfort in the stories her people have passed down over generations. In particular, the legends of Bongkatolan, the Woman Warrior, and the merciful rainbow goddess offer her strength and hope. Yvonne becomes determined to preserve these ancient legends and to give voice to the epic she herself is living. When the Rainbow Goddess Wept is an exploration of the collective wounding of the Filipino people and their heroic response. It shows us the Philippines through an insider's eyes and brings to American audiences an unusual reading experience about a world that is utterly foreign and a child who is touchingly universal. Cecilia Manguerra Brainard was born in Cebu City, Philippines. Her published works include Woman with Horns and Other Stories and Philippine Woman in America. She is also the editor of the anthology Fiction by Filipinos in America and teaches creative writing at the Writers' Program of UCLA Extension.

When the Rainbow Goddess Wept (Ann Arbor Paperbacks)

United States

University of Michigan Press

Blending the myths of the Philippines with the tragic history of the Filipino people, a visionary novel chronicles World War II's Japanese invasion of the Philippines, as nine-year-old Yvonne flees to the jungle seeking refuge, strength, and hope. A first novel. Tour.

Dutton

In this fine short-story collection, 29 Filipino American writers explore the universal challenges of adolescence from the unique perspectives of teens in the Philippines or in the U.S. Organized into five sections--Family, Angst, Friendship, Love, and Home--all the stories are about growing up and what the introduction calls "growing into Filipino-ness, growing with Filipinos, and growing in or growing away from the Philippines."... The stories are delightful! (Booklist)

Growing Up Filipino: Stories for Young Adults

PALH

CECILIA'S DIARY 1962-1969 collects diary entries by award-winning author Cecilia Manguerra Brainard when she was a teenager.

Cecilia's Diary, 1962-1969

Growing Up Filipino II: More Stories for Young Adults is the second volume of the Growing Up Filipino series by PALH. In this collection of 27 short stories, Filipino and Filipino American writers explore the universal challenges and experiences of Filipino teens after the historic events of 9/11. The modern demands do not hinder Filipino youth from dealing with the universal concerns of growing up: family, friends, love, home, budding sexuality, leaving home. The delightful stories are written by well known as well as emerging writers. While the target audience of this fine anthology is young adults, the stories can be enjoyed by adult readers as well. There is a scarcity of Filipino American literature and this book is a welcome addition.

Growing Up Filipino II: More Stories for Young Adults

Please, San Antonio! & Melisande in Paris are two delightful novellas written by award-winnng authors about women who journey to Rome and Paris and find creativity, identity, love, and healing. In Eve La Salle Caram's Please, San Antonio!, an emotionally isolated American woman's trip to Rome becomes a powerful quest to find what she has lost: her creativity, identity, and "an open place in her heart." In Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's Melisande in Paris, a young seamstress from the French countryside comes to Paris to assist her dressmaker aunt, and rediscovers her talent, strength, and a precious "feeling of wholeness" in her new lover's arms. Together, Caram's Beatrice and Brainard's Melisande cross geographical borders and borders of the heart with vitality and spirit, and will inspire those who believe in the possibility of heaven on heart.

Please, San Antonio! & Melisande in Paris: Two Novellas, Special International Edition

Caram, Eve LA Salle

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard has written an ambitious novel of forbidden love. Set against the turbulent history of East Asia in the twentieth century and by turns erotic and tragic, Magdalena vividly depicts three generations of strong Filipino women. Aimee Liu, author of Cloud Moutain 
I have been looking for a good story about the war. N.V.M. Gonzalez, author of The Bread of Salt and Other Stories (upon reading "Winning Hearts and Minds," one chapter of Magdalena.) With her second novel, Magdalena, Cecilia Brainard adds new portraits to the gallery in Philippine literature. She has always had a strong sense of place. Here, she provides an inner landscape as well. Together, these provide the coordinates for the family secrets that bind the characters as securely as bloodlines. Linda Ty-Casper, author of The Stranded Whale In this novel, Brainard blends a series of multiple perspectives to create a polyphony of voices that enacts Philippine society before and during the Second World War. The narrative is a nuanced vision of the workings of culture, social class, obligation and the Filipino personality. Rocio G. Davis, author of Transcultural Reinventions: Asian American and Asian Canadian Short Story Cycles About Brainar's first novel When the Rainbow Goddess Wept -- The strengthening of the national spirit; the loss of innocence in two generations -- these themes are explored by the author, who was born in the Philippines, with persuasive conviction and stark realism. Publishers Weekly A fast-paced, sensitively written first novel about the psychological damage war wreaks, seen through the eyes of an intelligent, resilient young girl . . . Brainard's appealing characters are larger-than-life people who change before our eyes, yet remain utterly convincing. Kirkus Review Stories of war are perhaps most compelling when told through the eyes of children, whose innocence is always so tragically incongruous to the adult madness that rages around them. Los Angeles Times

Magdalena

Genre Fiction

Plain View Press

Growing Up Filipino: Stories For Young Adults

Growing Up Filipinos: Stories for Young Adults is the acclaimed collection of stories about the experience of growing up Filipino. Emerging and established award-winning writers are the authors of this fine collection of 29 short stories about what it means to be young and Filipino in the Philippines and the United States. Filipinos in America are the second largest in the umbrella group of Asian Americans, yet there is a scarcity of books by and for Filipinos. This impressive array captures the complexities of both the culture and history and the realities of the lives of young adults no matter what their ethnic affiliation. Each story is assigned to one of five universal themes: family, angst, friendship, love, and home. Each story is introduced by a thumbnail sketch of the author and a paragraph or two about some element of Filipino culture or history that is relevant to the story. Authors include those born and continuing to live in the Philippines, emigres, and American-born Filipinos. The book was in the National Geographic Summer Reading List for 2020; it was a finalist for the 2005 National Book Award, Philippines.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Brainard, Cecilia Manguerra. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Brainard, Cecilia Manguerra

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Brainard, Cecilia Manguerra. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

When the Rainbow Goddess Wept

When the Rainbow Goddess Wept (Ann Arbor Paperbacks)

When the Rainbow Goddess Wept

Growing Up Filipino: Stories for Young Adults

Cecilia's Diary, 1962-1969

Growing Up Filipino II: More Stories for Young Adults

Growing Up Filipino II: More Stories for Young Adults

Please, San Antonio! & Melisande in Paris: Two Novellas, Special International Edition

Magdalena

Growing Up Filipino: Stories for Young Adults