Lead Review

• Book: The Betrayed
• Location: The Philippines
• Author: Reine Arcache Melvín

Review Author: Tina Hartas

The Betrayed is a story of two sisters who love the same man… but that is just the beginning.

The book is very firmly set in 1980s Philippines. The key characters are members of the political elite in Manila, whose opulent lifestyle contrasts sharply with the fortunes of the the population mass of the Philippines. They maintain their power and influence by violence, corruption and self-serving alliances that come and go with the wind. The 1980s saw the end of the Marcos dictatorship and the rise to power of Cory Aquino. The players of the time are not named, but there can be no doubt who is being referenced, The two sisters, Lali and Pilar, are the daughters of a left wing regime critic who was exciled with his family to the States and then murdered on the streets of San Francisco. Lali fall is love with, and marries, Arturo – godson of the previous dictator. They move back to Manila. She appears to adjust well to the high life in the Philippines. Her sister, Pilar, goes with them but wants to honour their father’s memory and is shocked by what she sees as her sister’s betrayal. The story spends some time with the opposition to the government in the South of the country – the communists (the EDSA) and the religious left. It is a very well rounded view of what the country was like in the 80s.

Arturo is planning his own political career and is (perhaps strangely, we find out why)) supported by Pilar in this. While Lali is heavily pregnant, Pilar and Arturo spend time on the road together as he campaigns away from Manila. Their relationship becomes far more than just convenient… The marriage a trois is a key part of the story

The Betrayed is one of the very few novels written in English that covers the tumultuous 1980s in Philippine history. It does it extremely well, and should be required reading for anyone interested in or studying the period. That, perhaps, makes it sound a little dry. It isn’t – it is a very human and very well written story set against a dramatic background.

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