Out of Cebu: Essays and Personal Prose

University of San Carlos Press, 2012, softcover ISBN 978–971-539–034‑7

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Marvelous Prose

Many of the per­son­al essays in this book explore the author’s Cebuano ties, includ­ing col­or­ful accounts about her mother’s polit­i­cal fam­i­ly, the Cuen­cos. The col­lec­tion of 28 prose pieces also includes accounts about the author’s life and trav­els out­side of Cebu.

 

Praise

“How can any­one miss with a book like this? It com­bines the mar­velous prose of Cecil­ia Brainard with the reflec­tive ambiance of Cebu. Although I am nei­ther a woman nor a Cebuano, Cecil­ia is one of my favorite authors and Cebu is one of my favorite cities. Cecil­ia has always impressed me with her ener­gy and exper­tise. Cebu has always been my writ­ing city, which I vis­it when­ev­er I am in need of inspi­ra­tion. Now I have both Cecil­ia and Cebu every day between cov­ers in my hands.” (Isagani R. Cruz. Colum­nist, Philip­pine Star)

“I knew Cecil­ia Manguer­ra Brainard first as a fic­tion writer, writ­ing from the U.S. but ground­ed in the phys­i­cal­i­ty of Ubec, Cebu, of course … Lat­er when I got to know her as a friend, I dis­cov­ered anoth­er lay­er which involved her deep inter­est, research in and think­ing about Fil­ipino his­to­ry, par­tic­u­lar­ly Mag­el­lan, who died, of course, in Cebu. I vis­it­ed her in her cur­rent Cebuano home in the Par­i­an, and we walked past the old Jesuit house down the street. Thus I found this col­lec­tion of essays charm­ing­ly famil­iar and yet fresh and new … A beau­ti­ful col­lec­tion!” (Susan Evan­ge­lista, Pro­fes­sor, Palawan State University)

“Cecil­ia Manguer­ra Brainard’s essays are invalu­able to stu­dents as they reflect on their own life jour­ney. These essays cel­e­brate a pride in a her­itage. Brainard is clear­ly proud of her Cebua­na her­itage and this pride shows in this mag­nif­i­cent col­lec­tion of essays. No doubt, edu­ca­tors and stu­dents alike will be enthralled by the details and pic­tures cre­at­ed in these essays.” (Edmun­do F. Lit­ton, Pro­fes­sor of Edu­ca­tion, Loy­ola Mary­mount Uni­ver­si­ty, Los Angeles)

“Cecil­ia Manguer­ra Brainard lets her pas­sions take us on trav­els to places in the world and in her spir­it. Either way she releas­es the can­did­ness, the cri­tique, and the chaos that con­front a writer evolv­ing. For nev­er does the writer tire of becom­ing while con­nect­ing past with future. And in her case, a youth spent on the island of Cebu, jumps in and out whether she is hag­gling in Peru, con­tem­plat­ing sweet Philip­pine cus­tard, or recall­ing her beloved Car­ni­val Queen moth­er who reigned before mod­ern beau­ty con­tests dared to design an inter­na­tion­al stan­dard.” (Felice Pru­dente Sta. Maria, Writer)