The book
A novel about sisterhood, familial duties and love
“[Melvin's] beautiful, sensual, visceral writing shows us that the past is not really a foreign country, but our own country in an eternal loop.”–Jessica Zafra, author of Twisted
"Highly readable and enjoyable, it compellingly contains, in its confident tone and language, a powerful mosaic of images, characters, and relationships.”–Angelo R. Lacuesta
Set in a time of dictatorship and political upheaval in the Philippines, The Betrayed tells the story of two sisters who love the same man. Their passion threatens to lead them to betray not only each other, but all that their father stood for.
Shy, idealistic Pilar initially resolves to carry on her father’s fight against the regime, while her flamboyant older sister Lali reacts by marrying the enemy – Arturo, the dictator’s godson. Each tries to find their place in this violent world, but can they withstand the corruption of politics and the relentless pull of their own desires?
Taking in the Philippines’ troubled history from the Marcos dictatorship to the establishment of the present totalitarian regime, and expertly layering the many aspects of the human condition, The Betrayed is a complex and luminous novel.
The author
Reine Arcache Melvin
Reine Arcache Melvin is a Filipino-American author whose works focus on the Philippines and the lives of Filipinos both at home and abroad. Arcache Melvin's short-story collection A Normal Life and Other Stories won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1999. The Betrayed is her first novel.