Sweet Haven
From a brilliant new talent, comes a sharp and sensual novel set in a decaying and unromanticized Philippines. In the little city of Donostia, bad news travels fast. So when 16-year-old Naia is found in an illicit pornography video, the tight-knit community is outraged. They want answers. The finger of blame soon points to Narita, Naia€s absentee mother, for putting career ahead of duty. Now Narita is back from Manila and must face her past and the memories of a life she fled. In search of the answers to her daughter's scandal, she follows a trail of evidence to reveal a web of family secrets, corruption, prejudice and the barriers of social class. Â
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At its heart, Sweet Haven is a story of a family buffeted by an ailing and intransigent nation, of the simple and bitter ways by which a family falls apart, and the brave leaps they can take to put themselves back together. Sharp-witted, keenly observant, with a passion for the rich tragic-comedy of life, Lakambini Sitoy takes on the everyday complacencies that can shatter a life €“ or save it.