{"product_id":"book-otvd","title":"The Villa, Once Beloved","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\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\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: start\"\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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: start\"\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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: start\"\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 …\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: start\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"A classic Gothic thriller set in the Philippines in the wake of the Marcos dictatorship. … Manibo seamlessly blends supernatural shocks and suspense with powerful political and social drama, and builds to a hair-raising climax.\"\u003c\/em\u003e-\u003cstrong\u003eDavid Demchuk\u003c\/strong\u003e, Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author of \u003cem\u003eThe Bone Mother\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Recorded Books, Inc.","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":50172129739056,"sku":"BDotvd","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/otvd-Square-cover.jpg?v=1771053866","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-otvd","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}