When the Rainbow Goddess Wept

University of Michigan Press, 1999, softcover, 216 pages, ISBN 0472086375

Dutton/Penguin, 1994, hardcover,216 pages, ISBN 0–525-938214

Plume, 1995, soft­cov­er, 216 pages, ISBN 0452274710

Uni­ver­si­ty of San­to Tomas Pub­lish­ing House, 2019, soft­cov­er (Philip­pine Edi­tion), 9879715068420

Bilge Kul­tar Sanat, pub­lish­er of Turk­ish edi­tion of When the Rain­bow God­dess Wept (Gokkusa­gi Tan­ri­c­asi Aglad­igin­da), 2001

Avail­able from Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan Press

Avail­able in Kin­dle

PALH has copies of the fol­low­ing; US ship­ping is $10, email palhbooks@gmail.com:

• Rare out-of-print 1994 Dutton/Penguin hard­cov­er edi­tion, $55 each;
• Philip­pine soft­cov­er edi­tion, $18.95;
• Turk­ish edi­tion of When the Rain­bow God­dess Wept, $55 each

Compelling War Story, a Classic

When the Rain­bow God­dess Wept is Cecilia’s acclaimed first nov­el about a com­ing age of a young girl in the Philip­pines dur­ing World War Two. First pub­lished in the Philip­pines as Song of Yvonne, it was picked up by Dutton/Penguin in 1994. A Plume paper­back edi­tion was pub­lished in 1995. A Turk­ish Edi­tion, Gokkusa­gi Tan­ri­c­asi Aglad­i­gun­da (trans­lat­ed by Fusun Talay), was pub­lished by Bilge Kul­tur Sanat in 2001.

The US edi­tion of When the Rain­bow God­dess Wept is cur­rent­ly pub­lished by the Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan Press, and the Philip­pine edi­tion was released by The Uni­ver­si­ty of San­to Tomas Pub­lish­ing House in 2019.

Praise

“When the Rain­bow God­dess Wept by Cecil­ia Brainard is the tear­ful, sel­dom-told sto­ry of the Japan­ese inva­sion of the Philip­pines dur­ing World War II as seen through the eyes of a young Fil­ipino girl. The many hard­ships that 9‑year-old Yvonne Macaraig and her fam­i­ly are faced with teach her the val­ue of hope and endurance … Brainard’s won­der­ful nov­el shows how war brings out the best and the worst in peo­ple as it describes both the atroc­i­ties and the hero­ics that befall her char­ac­ters. The nov­el­’s theme, the vast cost of war on the human spir­it is illus­trat­ed well by Yvon­ne’s trag­ic loss of inno­cence. In the words of her grand­fa­ther, Lolo Peping: ‘Before man sinned, he was inno­cent. Man’s orig­i­nal sin was­n’t eat­ing the for­bid­den fruit; it was Cain’s mur­der of his broth­er.’” (Asso­ci­at­ed Press)

“Inter­weaves real­is­tic events with myths of women fight­ers and god­dess­es, as well as fan­tas­tic dreams … Brainard’s appeal­ing char­ac­ters are larg­er than life, peo­ple who change before our eyes, yet remain utter­ly con­vinc­ing … A fast-paced, sen­si­tive­ly writ­ten first nov­el.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“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)

“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. When the Rain­bow God­dess Wept, a first nov­el by Cecil­ia Manguer­ra Brainard that chron­i­cles the Japan­ese inva­sion of the Philip­pines dur­ing World War II, is no excep­tion.” (Los Ange­les Times)“Enchanting through­out, this nov­el will mes­mer­ize the read­er right up until its vic­to­ri­ous end­ing.” (Book­list)

Excerpt

https://cbrainard.blogspot.com/2015/12/world-war-ii-fiction-excerpt-cecilia.html

Book Reviews

Book­list, Sep­tem­ber 1, 1994

Kirkus Review, July 1, 1994

Los Ange­les Times, Novem­ber 15, 1994

Pub­lish­ers Week­ly, August 16, 1994

Asso­ci­at­ed Press, Decem­ber 18, 1994